


Moon Cat

by Maccjoo



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: ? - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Attempt at Humor, Cat Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Cats, Confusing, Crack, Curses, Fluff, Gifts, Happy Ending, How do I tag?, Its kind of magic, M/M, More ships to be added, Seventeen - Freeform, Sexual Humor, Sweet, They are all stupid trust me, fluff at the end, its pretty gay, jeonghan is a little shit, one almost smut scene, will add more as I go on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-07-13 21:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16026299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maccjoo/pseuds/Maccjoo
Summary: Soonyoung goes by the same route everyday, and encounters a black cat every night without fail. Every night whenever he sees the same black cat, something unfortunate happens to him. Maybe he trips, or bites his tongue but whatever happens, Soonyoung is convinced that it is that same, stupid, black, cat. It also just so happens that Wonwoo, his roommate, really likes that cat and decides to bring it home. That's when he meets Jihoon. Cursed to be a cat by night, and has another secret hidden behind his heart.





	1. Superstitions

**Author's Note:**

> Previously known as Full Moon Cat. Yeah... the story has changed a lot. Anyways, I just write this for fun so there is probably many typos but I hope y'alls don't mind!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo brings home more than just a simple cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah its different but it's simple and an easier concept to grasp. I hope you still enjoy it!

Supernatural magic comes easily through Soonyoung’s world. Earth wasn’t always a place with weird magic according to the history textbook and it’s not control over the elements like in fantasy books either. The energies, and expressions of individuals can create “curses” or “gifts” depending on if they have a positive light, or negative light on certain people. Soonyoung has had his fair share of gifts and curses throughout his life. One time his friend Seungkwan got so fed up with him that he cursed Soonyoung into becoming a hamster and would only be free once Seungkwan forgave him. It didn’t take very long though. Seungkwan was known to give curses and gifts out easily. 

 

Gifts were harder to place though. It takes an immense amount of happiness to gift someone, but the blessing is usually strong and lasts for long amounts of time. Jeonghan for example has a gift where he can tell who someone likes. Apparently Mingyu has a crush, but Jeonghan won’t tell anyone who it is. He likes to keep everyone guessing.

 

Even with all this, Soonyoung still believed in superstitions. Broken mirrors, opening an umbrella indoors and walking under ladders all gave him slight anxiety. It wasn’t any different when a black cat started to follow him around. Every night, when Soonyoung would walk home, he would see the same black cat observing him and every night without fail, he would either trip or accidentally walk into the pole on the street. It just confirmed his belief in all of it.

 

Today, it was no better. His shoelace became untied and like usual, he stepped on it and fell face first into the sidewalk. The cat scrambled away into the darkness. Soonyoung got up and grumbled while tying his shoelaces back together, all while hoping that cat would finally leave him alone. But it didn’t. Actually, it came right at his door when Wonwoo, his roomate, came into his room with a scratch on his face and a familiar black feline in his hands. Soonyoung just knew it was the same damn cat.

 

“Anything but this fucking cat.”

 

Wonwoo frowned, keeping the struggling kitten in his arms tight, “I said I wanted a cat though… You even agreed!”

 

Soonyoung shook his head aggressively and took the time to make sure it was that stupid cat. No matter how much he wanted it not to be, the cat was too similar to the one from earlier.

 

“No, that’s the same cat what keeps making me run into that pole! Why did you have to bring him here now I’m going to-” Soonyoung accidentally bit his tongue while speaking and started to groan in pain.

 

“You’re just stupidly unlucky. Don’t believe in all of that stupid black cat shit! Just look at him!” Wonwoo held the cat right above Soonyoung’s face, “Look at him, he’s adorable!”

 

The grumpy cat’s eyes just blankly watched Soonyoung lazily. It finally stopped trying to get out of Wonwoo’s grasp. It looked like the cat was about to curse him, even though it’s isn’t possible, maybe evolution would catch up to the thing. Whatever it wanted though, Soonyoung would not let it infiltrate his own house. Not a chance in hell.

 

“It looks like he wants to kill me, but if that’s how you view cute, then sure!” Soonyoung threw his hands up in the air, “Look… nothing, and absolutely nothing will make me take care of this-”

 

“I’ll let you win every Mario Kart game and even pay for our dinner all next month.”

 

“And that’s a deal!” Soonyoung exclaimed, without thinking much of the consequences.

 

Wonwoo pushed the cat into the others chest and walked away gleefully, “You can decide on his name since you love him so much.” and he waved himself off into his own room.

 

Soonyoung stood there stunned, wondering if he really just agreed to having this cat live with him for who knows how long. He glanced at the cat, then back to Wonwoo’s room, then back to the cat. How would they even know if this thing had an actual owner or not? Soonyoung finally snapped out of it and stomped over to knock on his roomates door.

 

“I take this shit back! Get a different cat please!”

 

Wonwoo laughed, not bothering to open the door, “Too bad! You said we can never go back on a promise!”

 

“No!” He whined, glaring at the animal who couldn’t give a care in the world anymore. The cat was oddly calm now unlike when he was with Wonwoo though. “Please, please I swear. This thing hates me I know it!”

 

“Well I don’t hear any protests from the cat so why don’t you go play with it or something?” Wonwoo cracked open the door and threw out a bag of cat stuff. He clearly had everything planned. “You don’t even need to buy anything. Now stop bothering me!”

 

Soonyoung took a deep breath in as Wonwoo shut his door. He picked up and bag and silently admitted defeat to his new pet and wandered into his bedroom. He carefully placed the cat to the floor, making sure to not upset the demon in an adorable disguise. The cat immediately scanned the room, and walked out of the door.

 

He followed it out, making sure it wouldn’t cause any trouble. However, it simply went straight to the front door and scratched at it, hinting that it wanted to leave. No matter how much he wanted to open it, Wonwoo would kill him if he let it loose. Soonyoung would feel bad for months about it anyways. Soonyoung crouched down to talk to him.

 

“Sorry cat. I can’t let you out, no matter how much I hate you. Let’s just put our differences aside and live peacefully m‘kay?”

 

Soonyoung swore he was it rolled it’s eyes and nodded. Maybe the cat is smarter than he thought. He left the cat alone. It would be Wonwoo’s problem later. The cat had other plans though. He trailed along silently, though Soonyoung took a great notice to it. It was probably trying to kill him but Soonyoung hoped it was nicer than it seemed to be.

 

Soonyoung flopped on the bed, but not before stubbing his toe on one of the legs of his desk. He yelped out, and held his toe as the cat watched his misery unfold. Soonyoung had tears in his eyes while he pouted at his pet. Suddenly he noticed his phone was tipping over at the edge of his pocket. It was going to fall.

 

He had his hand out to stop it. His gut was telling him to go faster, but it was already too late. His phone tumbled out and it was like it was in slow-motion. Soonyoung watched it painfully slide out and land on its corner, then face down. He gasped hard and flipped it over to see if it was damaged.

 

His life was over. His phone screen was cracked. The pit in his stomach dropped. Soonyoung clenched his fist, unable to react without bothering Wonwoo. All he could do was accept it, move on, and maybe cry in the process. Soonyoung opened soundcloud and played a song on his playlist, hoping the music could calm him. The kitten perked his head up, noticing the song with his eyes wide.

 

“You like this song?” Soonyoung yawned, “At least we have similar music taste.”

 

He peered over to look at the song title. It was “Don’t Wanna Cry” by a low-key artist who named himself Woozi. Soonyoung suddenly remembered that he had to name this guy as well.

 

“You know what…” He mumbled, “I’ll just name you after this artist, Wonwoo won’t know a thing.”

 

The pet nodded again, making Soonyoung kind of scared that he kept called that cat stupid. But now, they both agreed on the name. Woozi.

 

Soonyoung’s eyes laid on the bag that Wonwoo gave him. He must have spent a lot of money on the cat already since it was packed to the brim with stuff. Soonyoung rummaged through it, taking out some cat food, a food bowl and some toys.

 

“You hungry Woozi?” He asked, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer. He mindlessly ripped open the bag of cat food and poured it into the bowl, “Bon apple teeth.”

 

Instead of coming over to eat it, Woozi glared at his owner and left the room like it was his house to begin with. What an ungrateful cat. Again, Woozi poked at the exit, almost like he was begging to get out. Soonyoung sighed and went into the kitchen, wanting to get away from Woozi for at least a bit. Soonyoung watched Woozi check all the windows around the living room and kitchen, which weren’t separated by a wall, so he could see the cat struggle to find an exit.

 

After a while, Woozi just sadly looked out of the window. It almost made Soonyoung feel bad for him. Almost. 

 

“Will you stop looking at him like that?” Wonwoo blurted out. He appeared out of nowhere.

 

“Like what? I’m having a very nice bonding time with him alright?”

 

“No, you’re glaring. I can’t even believe you’re holding a grudge against a cat… You’re almost worse than Jeonghan!”

 

“I’m not joking though! You have legit seen me bite my tongue while that black cat crossed paths with me!”

 

“And?”

 

“What about the time I choked on the air? Or fell face first in a puddle?”

 

“Yeah those were some great times. I should recall your misfortune more often.” Wonwoo chuckled.

 

The cat meowed and clawed at the window, making Soonyoung remember that Woozi wanted out. He really hoped Wonwoo would let it leave.

 

“By the way,” Soonyoung pointed at Woozi, “He wants to get out of here. Maybe he has an owner already.”

 

Wonwoo shrugged and shook his head, “No, he has no collar and no one in this neighborhood has a black cat. They all say he’s a stray.”

 

Soonyoung cursed to himself quietly. Of course Wonwoo would check. Out of all the things that would make him talk to people… a damn cat convinced him.

 

Wonwoo’s eyebrows went up, “Oh! Did you name him yet? I really wanted to see what stupid name you would give him.”

 

“Woozi.” He coldly replied.

 

“Woozi? I thought you would name him ‘demon cat’ or ‘the devil’ you know?”

 

“I wish, but if I don’t want to provoke the evil inside of him.”

 

“There is no evil inside him! Stop being mean to him!” Wonwoo puffed, crossing his arms, “Woozi is a sweet, adorable kitty alright?”

 

Woozi hissed at them both and continued to hit the glass. Soonyoung turned to Wonwoo. His lips were straight as he looked to the side, probably wondering if he should let the cat out or not. There was a long pause between them, and all you could hear was Woozi meowing for their attention. Finally Wonwoo spoke up.

 

“Okay, tomorrow I will think about it. In the morning, I’ll check if anyone has long their pets or something and then I might let Woozi out.” Wonwoo sighed, “But I doubt it.”

 

Soonyoung cheered in his head, but it was totally written all over his face. There was a chance that he wouldn’t have to take care of the cat. Wonwoo squinted at Soonyoung, then left, murmuring about how he was going to interact with everyone tomorrow just for Woozi’s sake. The cat cried loudly right before Wonwoo shut his room door, pleading to leave. His last attempt was unsuccessful and Woozi stopped pounding at the window. He decided his newly claimed room would be Soonyoung’s.

 

The cat curled up in the middle of Soonyoung’s messy bed, ignoring the disgusted face Soonyoung was showing. Who knows where this cat has been? Soonyoung poked the cat’s fur, which now he noticed was actually cleaner than he expected (for a suspected stray cat). However, once he poked him, Woozi scooted away. Soonyoung just stared at his two hands. 

 

That cat was too soft and fluffy… he wanted to feel that ball of fluff like there was no tomorrow. Wonwoo must have known. Soonyoung grabbed the cat without much thought and started petting him. Although Woozi was a little piece of shit, Soonyoung felt like he could pet Woozi for forever and even considered keeping the cat for real. Despite Woozi’s supposed ill intent towards Soonyoung, he let the man cuddle him. 

 

In Soonyoung’s mind, it was probably out of pity, but he was just glad that the cat was being nice for once. He wiggled into his blanket with Woozi, feeling more tired than usual. The cat purred Soonyoung to sleep unintentionally. They both fell into a peaceful slumber. That’s until… Soonyoung woke up.

 

The bed was nice and warm and he didn’t want to move an inch. Soonyoung couldn’t brush off the wave of comfort and sleepiness that he had mildly noticed. Soonyoung’s hands were hugging a huge, squishy pillow that breathed heavily near his chest. The pillow also moved slightly as Soonyoung repositioned himself to put his leg right on top of it. He was almost about to fall asleep again, but then he realized that pillows don’t do those things.

 

His eyes shot open and the first thing he saw was an unknown, naked man in his arms. He didn’t want to admit it, but the guy was actually a very nice snuggle buddy. Alarms blared through his mind though, and Soonyoung screamed in sheer panic. Who the fuck was this stranger and what did he want him? Soonyoung fumbled out of his bed, grabbing a thick book on his desk for protection.

 

The stranger woke up to the sound of Soonyoung, and burst up from the blankets. He quickly scanning the situation in a puzzled daze at first, then finally seemed to understand what happened. He lifted the blanket and closed it within a second with dread in his face. The man’s cheeks were flushed in embarrassment and his hands were on his head, trying to think of a way to make this situation better.

 

During the stranger’s confusion, Soonyoung got a good look at the guy. He was small with black hair and had weird, familiar, cat-like eyes. Soonyoung felt like he knew him from somewhere. Then it clicked in his mind. This guy in this bed was a stalker. 

 

There was no doubt about it. How else would he know this guys face? He had to have seen it somewhere. How did he even get into the house? The stranger then realized Soonyoung was standing there in fear.

 

“Wait! I can explain! Just calm do-”

 

Soonyoung started to screech, “DON’T TRY ME BITCH!”  and threw the book at the stranger.

 

The book hit his head dead on the center, making the guy fall back off of the side of the mattress and slam his head again on the cold hard floor. The strangers head was on the ground, but his legs were up in the air, leaning on the bed frame. Soonyoung held his breath, grabbing his chair to act as a barrier between them. Soonyoung waited for the man to get back up but after minutes of silence, there was nothing. He cautiously approached the black haired man, pushing the chair in front just in case.

 

He began to inspect the man at a safe distance. After watching the stranger show no signs of movement, Soonyoung finally calmed down. Only a bit before he realized that maybe he accidentally murdered someone. Soonyoung’s eyes went wide and scrambled to the guy’s side. Soonyoung grabbed the stranger’s arm and proceeded to check his pulse by putting his thumb on the middle of the man’s wrist.

 

That was how you do it right? Either way, Soonyoung didn’t feel anything. The guy was dead, and Soonyoung was going to go to jail and then get beat up by some buff serial killer. Soonyoung finally noticed the stranger’s chest rising up and down slowly. Maybe the guy wasn’t all that dead. 

 

Soonyoung slowly got up, taking small steps back. He grabbed his cracked phone and exited the room to find Wonwoo, who was nowhere to be seen. He had left already. The only thing Soonyoung could find was a note on the kitchen counter that read, “Nice boyfriend”. God damn it Wonwoo, you were fooled.

 

With his eyes tearing up, he called Seungkwan. He didn’t know what to do and he was sure as hell that Vernon hid some weed in his home so he couldn’t call the police. The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and rang but Seungkwan didn’t pick up. Soonyoung clenched his hands hard. Why doesn’t Seungkwan ever pick up when he needs him?!

 

He called Seungcheol instead. That man was bound to pick up. Soonyoung started to hyperventilating and sweat rolled down his face. He just hoped the guy wouldn’t wake up. Not even within the first few seconds, the ringing stopped and Soonyoung could hear Seungcheol shuffling in the background.

 

“Hello?” Seungcheol muffled out, “I thought I told you I had plans today! Don’t tell me Dk ditched you or something…”

 

Soonyoung ignored the others comments and frantically explained his situation as quickly as he could. “There is a guy in my house and he’s naked and he was in my bed while I was sleeping and I may or may have not killed him and Wonwoo isn’t here and I’m alone and-”

 

Seungcheol cut him off, “Is this a prank?” 

 

Soonyoung could hear others talking in the background, “No... I have a weird feeling…” one of the voices said.

 

“This is a prank no doubt about it.” Another added.

 

“This isn’t a fucking prank!” He blurted, “I’m scared, and no one is fucking here and he’s going to wake up and kill me because I threw the book at him! I don’t even know how he got in the house and-” Soonyoung faintly sobbed, “You know what? Fuck you guys, I’m just going to do it myself and die in the process!”

 

Seungcheol’s voice was hazy as it sounded as if he was running, “Soonyoung! Stop it! Get out of the house, and we’ll be there in a few minutes okay? Don’t put yourself in danger like that, and stay calm.”

 

One of the voices, that he now recognized as Joshua, was heard clearly on the phone, “Why didn’t he just call the police or something? That’s probably safer than… us.”

 

The next voice was Jeonghan, “Seriously? You know that Vernon has weed in stashed in our homes right? I mean- we don’t really care as long as he shares.”

 

“Shut up,” Joshua laughed, “you have literally never smoked weed before.”

 

“I can prove it.” Jeonghan bickered.

 

“We are not smoking weed!” Seungcheol protested, “Now get in the car before Soonyoung does something stupid!”

 

“I’m not going to do something stupid!”

 

“Stop yelling or you might wake him up! I’m hanging up now so just wait outside okay?”

 

Before Soonyoung could respond, Seungcheol already hung up. Soonyoung checked his room one last time. It looked the same as before. He got out of his house, and waited outside. A few minutes passed, and he could see Seungcheol’s car pull up by the street. 

 

He expected for only three people to come out, but surprisingly there were another three people who ran over to him. Wonwoo, Mingyu and Chan jumped out of the car alongside Jeonghan, Joshua and Seungcheol as they were prepared to encounter a possible stalker.

 

“Are you sure he’s good looking? ‘Cause when you said stalker I thought you meant some old guy-” Mingyu got interrupted by Wonwoo.

 

“Not all stalkers are old men.”

 

Chan coughed, “Yeah, and not all people who show up in Soonyoung’s bed are his boyfriend, even if they were good looking.”

 

“I thought it was only three people coming?” Soonyoung tilted his head, “I’m glad, but Mingyu and Chan too? When were you guys free?”

 

“I was with Wonwoo, and then we saw Seungcheol’s car speeding past so we knew something was up because Seungcheol drives fucking slow.”

 

“Jeonghan was scared that something might have happened to Chan after he heard about the creeper in your home so he told Chan that we were going to pick him up.” Joshua commented.

 

“I feel more safe I guess.”

 

“But what exactly happened?” Seungcheol asked.

 

“So I woke up, and then I realize there is some guy in my bed naked and I didn’t know who he was, so I started screaming. He woke up and I got scared so I hit him with some boring book Wonwoo gave me.”

 

Wonwoo rolled his eyes, “It’s not boring.”

 

“Anyways, it knocked him down and he got knocked out or something and well yeah.”

 

“Okay. Let’s assess the situation and-”

 

“Let’s just tie him up and question him. I’m good cop, Seungcheol can be bad cop.” Jeonghan waltzed right in, leaving Seungcheol at a loss of words.

 

“I want to be bad cop!” Chan whined, walking in with him.

 

The others did as well. Making sure not to wake the stranger up, they all attempted to tippy toe throughout the house. Most gave up since it was such a tedious thing to do after a while. They entered Soonyoung’s room to find the guy, half on the bed and half on the floor like before. Thankfully, the blanket covered most of him but Joshua covered Chan’s eyes anyways.

 

Jeonghan nodded, “You’re right. This does kind of look like someone Soonyoung would be interested in.”

 

“Sorry to say this, but stalkers ain’t cute.” Seungcheol whispered.

 

Wonwoo started to move out of the room, making his way to his own room. No one knew what he was doing, but no one really questioned it as well. He came back a moment later with a large rope in his hands. Soonyoung knew very well where that came from, but didn’t say a word about it. Someone else did though.

 

“Why do you even have rope in your room?” Chan questioned.

 

Soonyoung could see Wonwoo panic under his calm demeanor. It was subtle, but he could see Wonwoo’s hands clamming up. Soonyoung remembered where Wonwoo put the rope. It was in a small box in the corner of Wonwoo’s closet, hidden away poorly.

 

“I was deciding if I should kill myself or not.” Wonwoo’s face didn’t change but it was a bad excuse.

 

Not only was it a bad excuse, but there was a certain person in the room who could see straight through someone’s bullshit. Aka, Hong Joshua, who was gifted the power to see ‘lies’ by his mother. According to him, his mom was so happy to have him that he was blessed permanently, but it gets harder to see once you get older. 

 

Seungcheol’s expression turned into even more worry, “Wonwoo are you okay? I thought we talked about this…”

 

“No-” Wonwoo tried to clear up, but Joshua had something to add.

 

“He’s lying Seungcheol don’t worry about it.”

 

Jeonghan chuckled, “Yeah, we all know he’s into bondag-”

 

“I’m right here!’ Chan exclaimed.

 

“Oh shush! You always tell us to treat you like an adult but then you take that all back once you hear about this stuff. Come on!”

 

“I hate you Josh…” Wonwoo mumbled, turning away from Jeonghan as well.

 

“Guys lets go back to the problem right in front of us…” Seungcheol advised, “Are we going to tie him up or something?”

 

Wonwoo nodded, passing the rope to Mingyu, who passed the rope to Seungcheol since he didn’t know what exactly to do with it. Seungcheol only sighed as he threw the rope to Chan and proceeded to pick the stranger. He trudged all the way to the kitchen, plopping him down on a wooden chair.

 

“We could at least give him clothes.” Chan groaned with a disgusted look on his face, either from the rope or the stranger in general.

 

“And risk waking him up?” Mingyu exclaimed, “No way!”

 

“You’re right Chan. I don’t want to see his everything anyways.” Seungcheol agreed, “Anyways, I think he’s knocked out cold.”

 

“Yeah Mingyu, stop being stupid and get some clothes for the guy.” Soonyoung teased, laughing almost too loud.

 

Mingyu pouted and went off into Soonyoung’s closet. He came back with a random, oversized shirt. He pulled it onto the stranger while doing his best not to look. Thankfully, it was over in a second and there wasn’t much contact.

 

Suddenly a loud crash came from outside, along with yelps and bickering. The door then slammed open and out came even more people. Seungkwan looked flabbergasted as he tearfully ran upto Soonyoung to give him a huge hug. Dk also went in for the hug, but was pushed away, as Seungkwan wanted to hug Soonyoung first for himself. Vernon, Minghao, and Junhui also came in, but were really just giving judging eye to the whole mess. 

 

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Seungkwan sniffled, “I should’ve been here earlier but Minghao took his sweet ass time!”

 

Minghao scoffed, “I don’t understand why we needed to come… They have it all under control. I mean, the guy is tied up for fucks sake.”

 

“I’m fine.” Soonyoung answered, “It was a little scarring to have a random guy show up in your bed but honestly I beat this guy with a single book so I think I can handle myself…”

 

Vernon glanced around the windows, checking if there was something out there, “You guys didn’t call the cops right? I can’t let them know about my-”

 

“Yeah, we get it Vernon. You have drugs.” Chan sighed, “And that means we didn’t call the police.”

 

Vernon gave a sigh of relief. Seungkwan was still holding onto Soonyoung, but letting Dokyeom have his turn to comfort the other. The younger two squished Soonyoung almost violently. He felt like he was in one of those hydraulic press videos. Junhui silently squinted at them in the corner, not wanting to disturb their weird style of caring for someone. He was so focused on the bunch, that he didn’t take a look at who was tied up in the first place. It never came to his mind.

 

“Why are you guys here anyways?” Soonyoung pondered, looking to Dk for an answer.

 

“Chan told us that you were in danger and some guy was in your house… so we spread the word and here we all are.”

 

The group all drew their attention to the sleeping boy, who was tied up tight in the chair. They didn’t really think through what else to do with him. Jeonghan really just wanted to tie someone up for fun, but he knew the others were starting to worry.

 

“What should we do with him afterwards?” Junhui simply asked, causing everyone to look at other people for ideas.

 

“We should let him go.” Dokyeom suggested, leaving some to have odd, scrunched up faces.

 

“No… we can’t just let him go.” Wonwoo reasoned, “What if he call the cops on us for tying him up?”

 

“Well we could say it was for self defence?” Soonyoung commented, “I mean, let’s be honest who wouldn’t be scared.”

 

“Yeah, and Josh can give them the truth!” Chan smiled.

 

“But they know he’s on our side! They can’t see what he sees!” Minghao pointed out.

 

“There has to be another person with a similar gift as Josh’s.” Vernon shrugged, “The world is huge.”

 

“That’s a small chance. I’m not risking it.” Joshua broke eye contact with them, “Anyways, if he calls the police on us then wouldn’t they check the house? What about your weed?”

 

Seungkwan wiped away his tears from earlier, “We can take them all now!”

 

Jeonghan scratched his head, “He doesn’t even remember where he puts all of them...”

 

“We can do a full sweep of the house with all of us in one go. We have time until he wake up don’t we?” Seungcheol watched their faces go into thought, but some were still unconvinced.

 

There was another opinion, and another counter to that idea. It was one after another, with no end. The discussion escalated into a heated dispute. People were taking sides, changing then changing back. The whole quarrel was a mess and thankfully the walls were thicker than expected. Although, in the midst of all of it, one person stayed away, a bit afraid to voice his thoughts. 

 

Mingyu quietly raised his hand, “How about we wait for him to wake up and decide then…? He might be a nice guy.”

 

Everyone snapped their heads at Mingyu, “No!” They all screamed then turned back, continuing their argument.

 

Mingyu put his head down and awkwardly laughed it off, knowing that they didn’t really mean it to come off as rude. It was for the better since he didn’t want to be part of it. Going unnoticed, the stranger was beginning to stir awake. His eyes were twitching under the abundance of noise and his head was wobbling from side to side. Finally, after Dk’s scream, his eyes blinked rapidly into wakefulness.

 

The stranger’s breath sped up as he was unable to move, and was surrounded with people he didn’t know. His pupils went wide, looking terrified as the fight went on in front of him. He could only recall three people, who he couldn’t name, but only their faces. The owners of the home, and the stupid pissed guy from a few days before. Finally, he remembered what had happened a while back, and how he was struck by a book.

 

He didn’t dare speak though. Suddenly, Junhui took a step to the side while making his statement and the stranger’s opened eyes caught his attention. He recognized him. At this moment, Junhui had stopped speaking. His thoughts were drawn elsewhere. The rest were puzzled and looked at the tied up person to see that he was awake this whole time.

 

“Shit we haven’t even made a decision yet!” Wonwoo burst out, “It’s all Seungkwan’s fault! He shouldn’t have insulted Minghao’s mullet.”

 

“I swear I’ll curse you! It’s my damn opinion and I dare any one of you to try me!” Seungkwan pointed at his friends, who didn’t even flinch.

 

“I’m not even mad about that! I’m mad about why you had to bring it up when we have better things to talk about!” Minghao let out a breath of frustration, “But my mullet looks fine! You just don’t know fashion do you!”

 

Seungcheol groaned loudly, “Just shut the fuck up everyone!” he shouted, causing them all to back away, “We have a real fucking situation here and you guys can’t even be serious for a second!”

 

With Seungcheol’s irritation popping out of nowhere, the group didn’t know what to say. They just stared off into the distance, hoping someone would have the courage to talk. Most were already reflecting on their actions.

 

“You know what? Let’s just hear what he has to say, right Mingyu?” The tallest hummed in response. Seungcheol bent down to see eye to eye with the man.

 

The stranger leaned his head back as far as he could, but didn’t break eye contact, “I uh, I can explain.” The stranger murmured.

 

“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?”

 

“I- I’m too intimidated by how uh, close you are to my face…” he glanced at Junhui for help, “If you could move…?”

 

Seungcheol backed off, “Fine.”

 

The guy could finally calm down at least a bit, “Um, I’m Jihoon… So… I’m just going to give it to you straight. I’m the cat you picked up last night… I turned back to normal in the morning.”

 

Everyone turned to Joshua, who agreed that it was the truth.

 

“And the guy beside the one with the mullet knows why.” He was talking about Junhui.

 

“I may or may have not cursed him on accident one day.” Junhui wryly smiled, “But I haven’t seen him since so I wasn’t sure if he was-”

 

Dokyeom jumped in, “Oh my god! So we actually kidnapped him? Is this what it is now?!”

 

“Um, kind of… I tried to leave but all the doors and windows were closed and I couldn’t get out as a cat because I couldn’t talk and they wouldn’t let me go…”

 

“But why did you show up in my bed?” Soonyoung tilted his head innocently.

 

Suddenly, Seungkwan took a step back and stomped on Soonyoung’s toe. The older held in his pain. No one really took notice of it.

 

“Because I fell asleep. I just y’know… accepted that you guys thought I was a real cat and gave up. I was supposed to wake up in tie to catch your friend leaving but I guess being cursed really takes a toll on you.”

 

“It’s the truth…” Joshua muttered.

 

“So I took home a person that I thought was a cat and caused all of this?” Wonwoo face palmed.

 

“No, Jun is the cause since he’s the one who cursed the guy in the first place.” Vernon lifted his eyebrow, “How did you even curse him?”

 

“You know that day when my kitten ran away and then Seungkwan spilt coffee on my brand new shirt and then I pissed off Jeonghan and my bus home was delayed by an hour and you guys were too busy to pick me up...? So I had to walk home alone with coffee stained clothing in the pouring rain too I think…”

 

“He thought I was holding his kitten and told me to give him back… But it was my mom’s cat, so I wouldn’t hand the cat over… so he got so mad that he eventually… turned me into a cat too.” Jihoon finished.

 

“Then I ran away… I don’t know why I just couldn’t deal with it.”

 

“So Jun had a shit day and poured all of his gathered negative energy into a curse and placed it on this poor, poor, man?” Soonyoung frowned, “How do you break it?”

 

“Well I got it checked yesterday and I have to…” Jihoon grimaced, “Kiss someone I like…”

 

“True loves kiss! Isn’t that funny! It’s perfect you can kis-” Jeonghan stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the look on the Jihoon’s face.

 

“I just find it uh… very hard to fall in love.” Jihoon clenched his jaw.

 

“I have an idea!” Mingyu clapped, “He can try to date one of us!”

 

“No fucking way.” Minghao put his hands up, “That’s such a stupid idea I can’t eve-”

 

“Mingyu’s idea was good this time. Why don’t we try it.” Seungcheol heisitantly argued, “Are you okay with it?”

 

“U- um I- I don’t really know if, uh, I should, I mean, you guys are all handsome but, uh no thanks, I’m okay.”

 

“At least he wasn’t lying when he said we were handsome.” Joshua added.

 

“Please! I feel bad for cursing you!” Junhui begged.

 

“Oh god… please do it cause when Junhui feels bad about something he did, he feels bad forever.” Seungkwan pleaded.

 

“No thank you, I’m fine, I don’t need your help. Could you untie me now? It’s digging into my skin and I think I’m starting to go numb.”

 

Jeonghan peered at the others and smirked before going back to him, “No.” he replied, “We won’t untie you.”

 

Jihoon was taken aback, now trying desperately to break out of the chair, “What?”

 


	2. Stop Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeonghan makes a deal with Jihoon, who doesn't really want to agree to all of the terms, but it's better than staying in the cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay my writing sucks but y'know what that's okay :'))
> 
> I also now realize that the chapters are a bit longer :oo

“We won’t untie you.” Jeonghan repeated, “Unless you go on at least one date.”

 

“Fuck that! I’d rather go home and watch the Emoji Movie! And that’s a fucking statement!”

 

“I like this guy.” Dokyeom commented.

 

“Me too, he seems cool.” Seungkwan whispered back.

 

Jeonghan suddenly got even more excited, “My point exactly! We need to expand our group after Samuel left us to go live his dream!”

 

Chan laughed, “You’re just saying that because you want someone new to bother.”

 

“It’s not like Samuel is gone either. He’s just busy… we can legit go over to his house now.” Minghao commented.

 

Jihoon shook his head, “I’m right here guys… I’m saying no to this social interaction shit.”

 

“Okay…” Jeonghan thought for a second, “how about not a ‘date’, but a nice solo, one on one friendship hang out!”

 

“That’s a fucking date!”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Jeonghan let out a sigh, “Look, you’re Lee Jihoon right? I know who you are. My mom and your mom talk. I just want to make sure you’re safe since… you don’t exactly have a place right now do you…”

 

“So you know me…?”

 

“You knew who this guy was this whole time?!” Soonyoung shouted.

 

“Well, I knew his name, but not his face so kind of. Now shush.” Jeonghan waved Soonyoung off to continue, “How about this then. Go on a date with me, then we can get you a place to stay.”

 

“What about clothes? Food? How do I even know this isn’t a scam! I barely know you guys!”

 

Joshua also cut in, “And why you, Jeonghan? Is there something we don’t see or…?”

 

Jeonghan began to push everyone out, “Give me and him some alone time… I think it would be better if we speak in private.”

 

“You aren’t going to fuck right?” Mingyu nonchalantly stated as he was getting pushed out of the door.

 

“Not unless he wants to.”

 

Everyone was squeezed through the front door and by the time the final person was out, Jeonghan slammed the door on them, locking it in the process. Technically, they could have gotten back in, but they didn’t want to disturb whatever Jeonghan was doing.

 

“I kind of like this Jihoon guy.” Vernon spoke, “He seems cool.”

 

“Yeah that’s what me and Dk said earlier.”

 

“We should make him hang out with us. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him around before.”

 

“I’ve never seen him in my life. Maybe you were high or something.”

 

“No, I’m sure I’ve seen him before…”

 

“Well, let’s just all agree that whatever Jeonghan is planning, it’s because he likes the guy too.”

 

“He just wants to adopt a new kid…” Chan turned to Seungcheol, “Are you okay with that?”

 

“Honestly, I just hope this kid isn’t as loud as you guys…” Seungcheol sat down at the doorsteps, “I still love you guys though.”

 

“You’re as loud as us!” Soonyoung roared, “You don’t get to say that!”

 

“Yeah, you’re right, what am I even saying? He’s going to be as weird as you guys.” Seungcheol leaned against Joshua who was behind him, nodding in agreement.

 

_______________________________

  


Jihoon watched all the people who he deemed trustworthy exit the room. Especially the guy with the smiley clock eyes and puffy cheeks. Deep down, Jihoon knew that he liked the guy, but there was no way that he would admit it. Jihoon wanted to keep lying to himself and leave those emotions drowned out by something else. He couldn’t like that guy, or anyone as a matter of fact. He wouldn’t let it happen.

 

Now he was left alone with this shady guy. All he knew is that this shady guy knew more things about Jihoon than he wanted a stranger to know. He just hoped that he was as nice as he looked, but that evil smile didn’t help in the slightest. He didn’t know what this guy wanted from him.

 

“So Jihoon, I’m Yoon Jeonghan. Nice to meet you.”

 

Jihoon squinted at the other, ignoring his introduction, “Why did you do that?”

 

“‘Cause I think it would be better if we talked in private.”

 

“Why? What’s the point in that?”

 

“I don’t want those kids to think I’m giving you some special treatment.” He grinned, “They can be a handful sometimes.”

 

“You sound like a mom.”

 

“I got it from somewhere didn’t I?” Jeonghan glumly looked down, “I don’t know. You seem like a nice kid and… to hear all the things your mom says about you, I can’t just… leave it, you know?”

 

Jihoon realized that this guy knew a lot more than he should, “I don’t want your pity.”

 

“No, it’s not like that. I want to help you, and I know that all the people I just kicked out are nice guys who would love to help you out too.”

 

“I- I can’t do that.”

 

“I won’t tell anyone about your issues, you can do that yourself. I’m just offering you a safe place to stay.” Jeonghan paused for a second, “And also a boyfriend.”

 

“What the fuck? Why the hell do I need a boyfriend? That’s so irrelevant!”

 

“Because you like one of them don’t you?! I can tell at least that!”

 

“Like hell you can! You’re not some cupid!”

 

“I got a gift just so you know, and I could tell that you liked one of us since you woke up! I just need to know you a bit more than I can see who it is…” He bit his nails.

 

“One minute ago you almost got me… but now I don’t know.” Jihoon rocked the chair and raised his voice, “Maybe if you fucking let me out then I would consider it!”

 

“I’ll let you choose one friend to hang out with, then if they approve of you, you can be officially part of our gang!”

 

“... I don’t want to be part of your ‘squad’ or whatever.”

 

“You make music right?”

 

“Yeah…? Why?”

 

“You can’t make music anymore since you got kicked out… but if you were in our very cool awesome amazing friendship then I’m sure Vernon wouldn’t mind letting you use his studio…”

 

“You mean… Vernon Chwe? Hansol Vernon Chwe?”

 

“So you’ve heard of him?”

 

“I mean, his raps are cool. I’d be nice to do a collaboration?”

 

“See? Look at you, already putting yourself out there to make friends! Come on. Just go with at least one of them so I can see how your heart works.”

 

“Is this seriously what you want from me? You want to make sure I’m safe and see who I like? It seems kind of dumb if you ask me… you don’t even gain anything.”

 

“I sure do gain something! Those losers I kicked out earlier? Their hearts are so predictable! I know everything! I need a challenge and luckily for me, your heart has a bunch of weird tangles that I need to unravel.”

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“It means that your heart is complicated” Jeonghan stood up and poked at Jihoon’s chest, leaving his finger there. “You see, I’m used to those other guys, so I know their hearts inside out but I want to see something else for a change.”

 

“What a nice gift you have…” Jihoon looked weirdly at the finger, “invading privacy… hurray…”

 

“You want to see? To be honest I can do a lot more then finding out who someone likes but,” Jeonghan leaned into Jihoon’s ear to whisper, “I don’t want the others to know. Kills the fun of keeping secrets.”

 

“You’re crazy.”

 

Jeonghan hummed to respond and pressed his finger down more. The fabric around the finger glowed and then it began to sink down into his skin. It wasn’t painful, but it was a tingling, cold feeling, as if bits of snow had entered his bloodstream and melted away into his veins as quick as it came. Jeonghan flicked his finger and it grazed upon a solid core that Jihoon felt was something like a golden ball that was as fragile as a pane of glass. It reberved throughout his bones and suddenly, Jihoon could see a familiar hand reach out to him.

 

He knew who it belonged to. He didn’t want to take the hand at first but there was something bright about his person. A laugh came ringing into his ears. The sound was sweet and almost sickening but he couldn’t help but giggle as well, even nothing was funny about it. The person laughing had his cheekbones up high as he bounced around, making the atmosphere brighter, colourful and making his world feel more meaningful if he could see that laugh again.

 

He started to feel himself get giddy. Jihoon was now drunkenly smiling to himself, high upon the single memory... but then the waves of memories stopped, and he gasped back into reality. That person wasn’t there and he was back to being glued to a chair.

 

“How was that?” Jeonghan smugly observed, his hand wasn’t on his chest anymore, “I don’t usually do this but it’s fun to see people in their memories sometimes.”

 

“What the hell was that?!” Jihoon exclaimed.

 

“The time you fell in love. You should know that.”

 

“I’m not in love! I don’t like him!”

 

“Oh? Who’s him? I’m interested now.”

 

Jihoon cursed in his head. How could he slip up like that? He didn’t like anyone. He didn’t like him. I mean he did, but no, he didn’t, if that made any sense. He just kept denying himself.

 

“No comment. Please let me out now. I don’t want to deal with this shit anymore. I’m going to pass out from all of this talking rather than my blood circulation at this point.”

 

“But the conditions! You got to hang out one on one with someone, so I can find out how your heart works okay?! It may not look like it but it’s super interesting, at least to me.”

 

“Food, clothes, a house is all included right? For how long?”

 

“As long as you can entertain those kids out there… probably forever. Minghao is fucking rich so I doubt we will have any problems.”

 

“...but I can’t entertain?”

 

“You already have… trust me, it doesn’t take a whole lot. They already like you for your common sense that most of them don’t even have.”

 

“But that one buff guy wanted to kill me? He was like right up in my face!”

 

“Seungcheol? Don’t worry about him he was just tired of dealing with everyones shit today he usually isn’t like that… You’ll be surprised.” Jeonghan turned his head a bit so that he could see the door in the corners of his eyes, “So… is it a deal?”

 

_______________________________

  


The rest of the group patiently waited outside. Soonyoung would say that their conversation was going smoothly, but they all wanted to go back inside as the people walking down the streets gave them weird looks. Finally, the door opened and poor Soonyoung who was leaning on the entrance fell backwards. Jeonghan dodged the oncoming boy and left him to tumble down.

 

Chan went over to help him up, “I forgot to tell you Soonyoung but your luck hasn’t been great lately.”

 

“Oh yeah! You were gifted a couple of days ago right? I keep forgetting.” Mingyu also went over to lend a hand, “Seeing luck doesn’t seem too useful though.”

 

“The guy inside… his luck isn’t too good either.”

 

Wonwoo stepped over Soonyoung and went on inside, “Could you hurry up? We all want to get in.”

 

Soonyoung rose up and waddled inside, seeing Jihoon still tied up and stuck to the chair. Everyone looked at Jeonghan since no one knew what was really happening. This was just a whole, weird, stupid scenario that no one was expecting.

 

“We have to kill him now.” Jeonghan sternly said, “He knows too much.”

 

Shook. That was how Soonyoung would describe what he was feeling. Did he know about the weed? Wonwoo’s bondage kink? Their plans to defeat the whole tristate area? The room sat in silence. Jeonghan finally broke his strong demeanor and burst out laughing.

 

“I’m just kidding! You guys are too gullible. Let him out, I think he must be numb as hell right now.”

 

Seungcheol began to untie the knots, and once the ropes were loose, Jihoon sprang up and walked to Jeonghan.

 

“So I have to choose one?”

 

“Preferably the one you want, yes.”

 

“Introduce yourselves.” He demanded.

 

Soonyoung didn’t really take a good look at Jihoon before. He was so terrified at the thought of a stalker in his room, that Jihoon’s face was all blurry. Now he could see clearly. It was funny, because those eyes looked similar to a cat. They were fierce, but Jihoon himself didn’t look too intimidating.

 

Jihoon had a darker aura around him that Soonyoung found interesting. His face had a cold look as he waited for someone to answer him. He hasn’t seen this guy happy at all yet, which was understandable, but something Soonyoung was determined to get from him was a chuckle. He wanted to see that smile. For some reason though, his face had a nostalgic feeling that Soonyoung couldn’t shake off. Something like deja vu.

 

“Boo Seungkwan!” He started, “I’m Boo Seungkwan and… I like americanos?”

 

“I didn’t ask for any other comments besides your name, but thank you for that useless fact.” Jihoon pat the guys back, which make Seungkwan give a mean glare back.

 

“Bitch I’ll have you kno-”

 

Vernon cut Seungkwan off before he began to rant, and so that he wouldn’t forget to voice his thoughts, “Oh Jihoon! Lee Jihoon! You’re Woozi! I’ve listened to your music before, it’s some good shit!”

 

Soonyoung shot a quick glance to Wonwoo, who realized Soonyoung named their cat after an artist. He was going to have a talk with Wonwoo later, but it wasn’t a big deal. At least to Soonyoung, but Wonwoo would probably think that the name wasn’t original, and therefore, not valid.

 

Vernon continued, “I’m Vernon… or Hansol. I don’t know you can call me either or.”

 

“We should collaborate sometime. Next?”

 

Soonyoung decided at that moment to seize the opportunity to fuck with the guy, “Yo, yo, yo, what up?” He said with as much cringeworthy swag he had in him, “You might know me from the streets, y’know? The names Edward. Edward Kwon.” He waved his hand with some fake gang sign and tried to recreate a fuck-boy on instagram type expression.

 

Everyone held in their laughter. Jihoon cocked his head to the side. He had a strong feeling that it wasn’t true, but didn’t have much evidence to back him up. Finally Wonwoo couldn’t keep it in anymore, and roared out, causing a chain effect in the room. Jihoon had the courage to laugh at that point, and joined in as well.

 

“I’m joking. I’m Kwon Soonyoung.” He clarified, not like he really had to.

 

Soonyoung could finally see that smile he was waiting for, and he was not prepared. Not in the slightest. Jihoon was beaming, and it instantly killed Soonyoung’s other judgement he had a second ago. It almost surprised Soonyoung with how Jihoon reacted. Like the other happy faces, it filled Soonyoung with joy, but Jihoon’s smile made the extra mile to overfill him with cheer.

 

The rest took their turn greeting Jihoon, with Dokyeom attempting to impress Jihoon with a song but miserably failing to make up lyrics on the spot. Jihoon congratulated him on his singing abilities however which then turned to Seungkwan and Dokyeom having a mini-contest on who was the better singer. Jihoon had almost forgotten that he had to pick someone, until Jeonghan slightly nudged his shoulder.

 

“You didn’t really explain to them what you’re doing…” Jihoon whispered to Jeonghan, trying to be discrete.

 

Jeonghan sighed and announced to the others, “Alright so here’s the deal. Jihoon has no where to stay so he’s going to be living with one of you guys for a bit. My house is off limits, he’s not going to be staying there, I need my beauty sleep.”

 

Seungcheol was going to protest but Joshua put a hand to his shoulder, meaning that Jeonghan wasn’t playing around.

 

He continued, “Anyways I forced him to go on a date with one of us, any volunteers?”

 

Joshua furrowed his eyebrows a bit, “So we’re trying to get him to kiss one of us? Is this what it is now?”

 

Jihoon mumbled, “No, it’s for his research…”

 

Junhui’s mouth pursed up a bit, “I just want a friend, can that work?”

 

“I think so?”

 

“No.” Jeonghan pounded his hand against the kitchen counter, “I need romance!”

 

Jihoon slammed his hand against the table beside Jeonghan’s, “You just fucking said it doesn’t have to be a damn date! This is already a scam, I should’ve known!”

 

“Okay fine! Jihoon just pick one for god’s sake…”

 

Jihoon’s eyes suddenly went wide. He was thinking, and he was thinking hard. It all showed on his face. At one point, Jihoon stared straight into Soonyoung’s direction and although it was only for a few seconds, Jihoon’s face slightly went pink, but turned away as fast as it came. Finally, Jihoon took a deep breath in, his eyes shut almost as if embarrassed to pick someone but in the end pointed his finger to his left which turned out to be… Mingyu.

 

“Me?” Mingyu looked around, “But, Jeonghan I can’t, you know this! You know that I like-”

 

“It’s fine.” Jeonghan cut off, “It’s for research purposes only.”

 

Mingyu spaced out to the side for a moment. He was disappointed. It was like a dog who had his ears and tail drooping down, clearly showing it’s emotions. It was a miracle that they haven’t figured out who Mingyu liked yet.

 

“Are you sure this is the right decision?” Wonwoo scratched behind his ear, “If Mingyu doesn’t want to then…”

 

Jeonghan was going to say something, but then took notice to Jihoon’s chest once again. He examined it instead, leaning closer to him at an uncomfortable distance and it looked like Jihoon was suffocating under his broken space bubble.

 

Jeonghan peered up to Jihoon, “You like Mingyu?”

 

“Yeah.” He instantly replied.

 

Then, Jeonghan flipped his head to Joshua. There were no words, but Joshua knew what Jeonghan wanted from him. He shook his head, giving a thumbs down motion.

 

“You must be stupid, or stupid. You had a chance.” Jeonghan muttered to Jihoon then declared to the rest, “Anyways... who wants to take Jihoon in?”

 

Soonyoung could tell that this guy was low key panicking. Maybe he thought that one of them wouldn’t take him in, but they all knew that if no one volunteered Jeonghan would pressure one of them to do it.

 

“I still want my damn cat.” Wonwoo grumbled, “I haven’t found a cat that soft… ever.”

 

“So what? You want me to pretend I’m your cat? That’s pretty fucking weird man… and then while your petting me you’ll be reminded that I’m actually a fucking person so technically you’d be petting a human and… yeah… weird.”

 

Soonyoung could agree with both sides of the argument, but he had some ideas, “But now we don’t even have to train you! We could make cute cat instagram videos and become famous!”

 

“You can’t be serious. I’m not going to be your fucking cat!”

 

Minghao poked Jihoon’s shoulders to get his attention, “But no one else wants to let you stay at their place.”

 

Jihoon took one look around the room to see that everyone’s expressions clearly showed their opinions on the matter. He mouthed the word, ‘fuck’ and realized he also had no choice but to agree. Soonyoung just hoped that the guy wouldn’t be too mad about it. It might even be cheaper than a regular cat!

 

“Fuck it… I guess it is better than staying outside…”

 

Joshua gasped, “We have rules around here! Number one, no swearing! We have a child around!”

 

Chan groaned, “Shut up! I am a fully grown adult!”

 

“Rule two! Be respectful to your peers!”

 

“What are we? Elementary kids?” Wonwoo grumbled softly.

 

“And we don’t really have any other rules because you guys always break them.”

 

“Like what?” Soonyoung innocently asked, “I don’t remember any rules other than the no swearing to be honest…”

 

“Uh, the no sexual stuff, mostly in front of Chan, but Seungkwan and Dk completely destroyed that one when they told everyone about their experience at a strip club…”

 

“It was a great experience, we should do it again!” Seungkwan nudged his elbow to Dokyeom.

 

“Yeah, we were broke though so we couldn’t make those dollar dollar bills fly.” Dokyeom pretended to brush money off of his hands.

 

“At most it was like ten dollars… Though, it was a good performance. I really liked it when they dropped down and their asses were like-”

 

“We get it!” Joshua exclaimed, “Y’alls need Jesus up in here!”

 

“Oh shut up Shua!” Seungcheol put his arms around Joshua’s shoulders, “We all know that you’re into some kinky shit...”

 

“And this is what I mean. Now Chan is judging us. Let’s move on.”

 

Chan was indeed giving them all a disgusted stare, “Good idea Josh.”

 

Everyone was tired of being in a cramped room, so they all left to do what they would usually be doing right now. Seungcheol went to go take his nap with Jeonghan and Joshua, Chan went back with Vernon to finish up his music, Mingyu, Seungkwan and Dokyeom went for korean bbq since they were hungry, and Minghao and Junhui went to go get chinese food. (No one else wanted to go with them because they knew all the food that Junhui would order would be spicy.) The rest, Wonwoo, Soonyoung and Jihoon, stayed since they were at home and had no real motivation to go out. Anyways, Soonyoung wanted to talk more with Jihoon, to get to know his new roommate better.

 

But Soonyoung didn’t get to. Once Soonyoung walked up to Jihoon, he immediately asked for some sort of pants, which would totally be fine since he had nothing but a shirt, but even after, Jihoon kept on asking him for things whenever Soonyoung got close. A glass of water, food, where he would sleep, where the bathroom was… He never got the chance to do anything else.

 

So in the end, the only thing Soonyoung learned was that Jihoon was a guy with demands… or that Jihoon didn’t want to talk to Soonyoung at all and was trying his best to avoid Soonyoung completely since Jihoon was apparently fine with talking to Wonwoo. All Wonwoo did was start some small talk and now Wonwoo knew the whole deal with Jihoon’s curse. Soonyoung had to find that out by eavesdropping.

 

Apparently in Jihoon’s words, he was _“Human by day and cat by night.”_

  


Was Soonyoung offended? Yes. Did Soonyoung show it? Maybe a little bit. Soonyoung was going to offer his own bed for Jihoon, but instead told him that he could sleep on the couch. It was not very satisfying though, since he forgot that the couch would be a perfect place for a cat to sleep, and would only really affect him once he woke up.

 

The night fell quick as Soonyoung was busy trying to get Jihoon’s attention. He spent the whole day doing small tasks for him. The sun was just beginning to set and Soonyoung was reminded that he had little time to get Jihoon to talk to him. It was his last and final try, and Soonyoung was determined to get it done no matter what. He walked up to Jihoon, who was on the couch watching a movie, and went over to tap his shoulder.

 

“Hey Jihoon! What are you watching?” He asked, not wanted to come off too strong.

 

“Uh, Black Panther.” Suddenly a loud sound came from the television and Jihoon leaned in closer to see it more clearly, “Sh, I think the fight is coming…”

 

Soonyoung wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He knew Jihoon could just pause the damn movie. Just before he could grab the remote to stop the film, a bright light gleamed right where Jihoon was sitting. It blinded Soonyoung and pretty much stunned him until the shining light died down. Once it did, Soonyoung peered down to see Jihoon, who had disappeared and had now became a black cat once again, with his clothes piled around him.

 

He had to take it all in at first. He really, really wanted to punch something. Why the hell was his timing so poor? Why doesn’t Jihoon want to talk to him? Soonyoung had to take a deep breath in to reflect. Soonyoung just stared at the cat below him, who didn’t even bat an eye and continued to watch the movie despite Soonyoung’s dark aura hovering behind him.

 

Who even cared? Jihoon was just a good looking stranger who happened to show up at his home. Soonyoung tried to tell himself that, but in reality, Soonyoung couldn’t stop thinking about why Jihoon avoided him so much. The older one clenched his jaw and grumbled away.

 

“Fine… don’t talk to me.” He pouted, and marched off to see Wonwoo in the hallway as if waiting for him.

 

“You know he can’t talk as a cat right?”

 

“How do you know?!”

 

“He told me!”

 

Soonyoung’s cheeks puffed up, “What the fuck? What’s so good about you? Why won’t he talk to me?!”

 

“Probably because you’re a loser.”

 

“He doesn’t know that yet!”

 

Wonwoo just shrugged and went off to do his own business. Now Soonyoung was convinced he did something wrong. Frustrated, Soonyoung went over to his room and climbed into bed, which now had a bunch of cat hair on it but he didn’t care at this point. Soonyoung was just tired.

 

Although it was very early for him to go to bed, Soonyoung slept to take his thoughts away. He guessed that Jihoon had already hated him. Which proved to be completely pointless to think that because once Soonyoung woke up a similar situation occurred again. Jihoon was sleeping in his bed, naked, and all Soonyoung could do was shout.

 

“WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK JIHOON.”

 

The other began to rise and oddly had to look around as well, “Oh shit, this isn’t the couch.”

 

“No the fuck it is not!” Soonyoung yelled, “You have the nerve to ignore my ass all day yesterday and then come into _my_ room and sleep in _my_ bed without _my_ permission!?” He ranted, “Why are you here anyways! I’ll have you know that you are still fucking suspicious to me!” he bluntly lied.

 

Jihoon looked down and rubbed his eyes, “Ah, I- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to uh… come off like that…”

 

“Well what? What was the point in brushing me off all day yesterday?!”

 

“You’re just…” Jihoon had to pause, maybe he was too tired, or maybe he was coming up with some stupid excuse. To be honest, Soonyoung didn’t really care in the moment, “You were just hard to talk to. Wonwoo seemed more chill and you uh… came off way too strong… I guess. Yeah. That’s it.”

 

Suddenly, Soonyoung’s pent up annoyance faded away into understanding, “Oh! I see! So that’s why? I get it, sorry about that… I just don’t like it when people ignore me.” He laughed.

 

“No, it’s okay. We can talk more if you want to.” Jihoon’s head turned away from him, “I’ll try to socialize more, even if it’s not my forte.”

 

“So I did it?! I got to talk to my roommate and all it took was to yell at him? Fuck yeah!” Soonyoung grinned dumbly.

 

Then abruptly, while Soonyoung was chuckling to himself, his nose started bleeding. It came out slow at first, but rapidly picked up the pace and it didn’t take long for Soonyoung to panic. Jihoon didn’t say a word and just handed Soonyoung a tissue. Thank god Jihoon was chiller than he thought.

 

Jihoon stood up with the blanket and scratched the back of his head, “Even though you’re clearly stupid, I’d say you’re a pretty cool dude.”

 

Soonyoung was frozen for a good minute until he silently got up, bloody tissue in hand, and slowly made his way out of the room, “One sec.” he murmured.

 

He then shut the door and ran all the way to Wonwoo’s room as fast as he could, unintentionally making some of the loudest sounds Jihoon had heard this week. He could hear Soonyoung crash into Wonwoo’s room and cry,

 

“JIHOON SAID I’M COOL! BEAT THAT WONWOO! I’M NOT A LOSER!”

 

Leaving Wonwoo to say, “What the fuck Soonyoung! It’s too early for your shit get the hell out before I slip on your nose blood!”

 

Jihoon couldn’t help but laugh out loud, enjoying whatever the fuck Soonyoung had just did. When Soonyoung came back into the room, all Jihoon could focus on was the guy’s cute, puffy face. Even though he had just woken up, Jihoon thought that he was even more charming than before in some ways. His half opened eyes (which looked closed by afar) and the satisfaction on the other’s face after a night’s rest make Jihoon content, knowing that he was happy, and well-rested. (Also that he was adorable but Jihoon wouldn’t admit that part)

 

Then Jihoon noticed the dripping blood from Soonyoung’s nose once again. It was more than before, and the tissue was nowhere to be seen. He must have dropped it. Soonyoung then hit the corner of his desk while coming in, scratching his leg in the process. Jihoon was reminded that he had to stop and take a step back.

 

He couldn’t fall in love. He couldn’t do that to anyone, especially not Soonyoung, because if he did… if he did truly gave into those emotions, then Soonyoung would probably meet a tragic fate. Soonyoung would die by Jihoon, cursed to place misfortune on the one he loves most. If he ever let himself fall completely, Soonyoung could never live a long-lasting, fulfilling life. Just standing next to him, was setting him up for his death.

 

But a part of Jihoon didn’t want to leave. His brain said no, but his heart pushed to stay, and in the end, his heart had always seemed to win. Yes, Junhui had cursed him, but that was nothing compared to the one placed on him long before then. Jihoon guessed, it was because he couldn’t love at all, and maybe, this curse placed was what he deserved.

 

To see his crush in front of him, but just a millimeter away from his reach. Soonyoung was unobtainable for him, no matter what. He wasn’t going to selfishly take away someone’s life for the sake of his own desires. It wouldn’t be worth it. If Jihoon wanted to stay, he would have to lie to the world that he never liked Soonyoung in the first place. He had to lock away his feelings far, far away before he gave Soonyoung something worse than a nosebleed or a stubbed toe.

 

After grabbing more tissues for Soonyoung, Jihoon decided that he should not look at the other’s face at all. Just in case. While trying to stop Soonyoung’s nosebleed, his phone rang out, causing the two to flich as no one really called anyone now in days.

 

Soonyoung picked up his phone with a quick glance saw that it was Mingyu, “What’s with the call?” His voice was stuffy because of all of the tissues by his nose, “I’m a bit busy right now.”

 

Soonyoung hit the speaker button, so that he could tend to his nose and listen to Mingyu at the same time, “It’s fine, it’ll be quick. Just tell that Ji-whom guy, whatever his name was, that our quote on quote, ‘date’ is scheduled next weekend, Saturday, according to Jeonghan. He already put some resos for us apparently and he’s paying for the food too! So, I think it’s a pretty good deal. I’m going to eat my heart out. Got that Soonyoung?”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Eat food, next Saturday… well actually, he can hear you so whatever. Bye Mingyu!”

 

“You put me on speaker? Whatever, you sound sick anyways. Get better and see you later!”

 

The call ended and Jihoon was left with one regret. He really didn’t want to go on that date, and he hoped Jeonghan wouldn’t find out about Soonyoung.

 


	3. Breaking Shards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon goes on that date with Mingyu, but unknowingly, there are another 11 people listening to their conversation.

Soonyoung got a surprise meeting call from Joshua, just before Jihoon’s date with Mingyu. He stated to meet at the usual place, aka Minghao’s house, and to bring Wonwoo if he was home. He made his way there and once at the gates, he rang seventeen times on the gate’s doorbell. It was their secret knock code to just in case because no one in their right mind would ring seventeen times consecutively. The door opened and Dokyeom was in front of him, with a straight face and a tuxedo. This had to be serious.

 

Wordlessly, Dokyeom lead Soonyoung to the meet up room, up the stairs, down the left hallway, where everyone else was also wearing a suit and tie. Maybe Soonyoung didn’t get the message, because he showed up in his sweatpants that for sure needed washing, but he was way too lazy to even take them off. The table was long, the room was dark, and had twelve seats. Almost everyone was there, except Mingyu.

 

“Last but not least.” Dokyeom introduced, “Kwon Soonyoung finally came.”

 

“But Mingyu isn’t here?” Soonyoung pulled out his seat beside Chan.

 

“Exactly, he isn’t attending today’s meeting.” Minghao said and then threw a bundle of clothes to Soonyoung, “Suit up.”

 

Soonyoung nodded and got shown into the dressing room. Sometimes he forgot that Minghao lived in a mansion, because somehow whenever he come in he find a new room he had never seen before. After changing, Soonyoung found some gel on the side of the mirror and decided to slick back his hair for dramatic effect. Minghao wouldn’t mind, or at least he hoped he wouldn’t.

 

He made his way back and pushed the door with force, “Let’s get started shall we?”

 

To be honest, Soonyoung didn’t know why they were pretending to be all serious, or if they were actually being serious and Soonyoung just didn’t get the memo. Either way, he played along and sat down.

 

“I bet you are all wondering why I called you here today.” Joshua began, “To be honest, I don’t know either.” He had a poker face on and turned to Jeonghan, “Let’s draw our attention to Jeonghan.”

 

That’s when everyone groaned.

 

“If it’s Jeonghan then it’s bound to be stupid!” Seungkwan burst out, “I would have never came!”

 

Junhui face palmed, “I’m done with this family.”

 

“Quiet!” Seungcheol firmly stated, “You’re all here anyways. Listen to Jeonghan alright?”

 

“Aw. Thank you Seungcheol.” Jeonghan smiled, “Remind me to kiss you later.”

 

“Jeonghan…” Joshua mumbled and glared at the oldest, “The hell man?”

 

“Whoops. Sorry.” Jeonghan whispered back then went back on topic, “Anyways. We are all going to spy on the awaited date Mingyu and Jihoon have planned today.”

 

“We’re going to what?” Chan leaned in, “You can’t be serious. That’s an invasion of privacy!”

 

“I said it’s for research!” Jeonghan insisted, “Anyways. We have to see if Jihoon is worthy of joining us.

 

“I vouch for worthy.” Wonwoo’s hand rose, “He’s a cool guy who actually told me the truth when he said that he didn’t like the books I gave him…”

 

“Damn. Good point. The only one who didn’t lie was Mingyu.” Vernon approved.

 

“I’m still not going to spy on them. That’s weird.” Dokyeom murmured, scared to defy Jeonghan’s wishes.

 

“Look.” Jeonghan sighed, “I already reserved our tables and split us into three groups. I have a plan.”

 

“...Is this why we are all in suits?” Junhui asked.

 

“Exactly. I prepared you all in advance to look like cool spies.”

 

“That place is expensive! Who’s going to pay? ‘Cause if I’m going then all I’ll be eating is the ice, which is not worth it.” Soonyoung exclaimed.

 

“Minghao is!” Jeonghan cheered.

 

“Hell no! Why would I pay for all of you dumb bitches?!”

 

“You paid for all of the clothes…” Joshua added.

 

“Because I’m a fashion designer too incase you forgot!”

 

“Unless you want your secret to come out I suggest you pay Minghao.” Jeonghan walked over calmly and put a hand on Minghao’s shoulders, “And I know you’re not ready.”

 

Minghao slapped Jeonghan’s hand’s off of his shoulder, did two flips away from him and proceeded to go into attack position. His breathing was harsh and in the dully lit, echoey room every exhale was amplified. Minghao stood in some martial arts pose and Soonyoung felt like he was watching a live action Jackie Chan movie. Now he knew why the suits had a dramatic effect. He didn’t know why Minghao was so defensive and it almost scared him, since Minghao is usually on the top of his game with everything.

 

“You hit me and I’ll tell them.” Jeonghan laughed.

 

Joshua nodded heavily to Minghao.

 

“You can’t be fucking serious. I’m not- you said that you wouldn’t… fuck- why did I even trust you anyways.”

 

“You actually didn’t have a choice so…”

 

“You’re right.” Minghao put his arms down and headed out of the room, “When is the date?”

 

“In an hour.” Seungcheol replied.

 

“You all better be ready. Also, one dish per person.”

 

“I forgot to tell you that you’re paying for Jihoon and Mingyu too.”

 

“For fucks sake…” Minghao stopped dead in his tracks just to sigh, “Fine.” and left through the door.

 

“Can we get out of these suits now? They’re so uncomfortable…” Dokyeom waited for approval.

 

“Sure, just wear something nice to the restaurant.” Joshua answered with everyone happy to get out of the tight outfits.

 

Jeonghan clapped and everyone was honestly surprised that Jeonghan could get away with bargaining with Minghao, “Now that that is settled… let’s go over the plan.”

  


_______________________________

  
  


Jihoon didn’t want to be there. He sat straight, looking at the dim lights above him while the cold glass of water he was given began to warm up. The place was perfect for a romantic dinner. Soonyoung had given Jihoon fair warning that the restaurant was kind of formal, so he pulled up the nicest outfit he could find. Still, just being outside made him feel out of place.

 

A week passed and Jihoon was now waiting for his “date” to show up. Mingyu was late. Jihoon had been sitting there for a while since he had been there on time by the dot, just like he had planned. He didn’t want to keep Mingyu hanging there awkwardly but it turned out to be the opposite. Finally, he saw the tall man pop up behind the other tables, not like Jihoon could notice anything else other than how giant the guy looked.

 

“Ah! I’m sorry I’m late I just woke up late from my nap.” Mingyu grinned and took his seat, “Jiwoo, was it?”

 

“Jihoon.” He corrected, “It’s Jihoon.”

 

“Ah, right, right.” Mingyu pushed his hair back swiftly and Jihoon couldn’t help but notice how graceful it looked, “Sorry Jihoon, I’m bad with names.”

 

Then, Mingyu shook his head roughly. It looked like a dog shaking his fur all over the place. Somehow, it had its own, weird charm to it though. Jihoon was convinced this guy was blessed with a handsome face and a tall body the more he looked at Mingyu. How dare he look that good and have the height to match. The world was an unfair place.

 

“It’s alright, Mango. Me too.” Jihoon snickered at his own creative nickname he had made on the spot for him, “Let’s get some food.”

 

The others were around them both unknowingly. They listened close, with Minghao grumbling about Jeonghan’s blackmail skills. Jihoon and Mingyu continued a surprisingly normal conversation, which was going smoothly even though Jihoon had a hard time coming up with responses. It was oddly, a very comfortable talk and Jihoon found himself enjoying it more than he thought he would.

 

“Jeonghan said you didn’t like me, but _would_ you date me? I’m not like- ugly right?” Mingyu said, while chewing on his food with his mouth slightly open.

 

“You? Ugly? Don’t be stupid. If you were gifted with that height and face, you better fucking enjoy the breeze up there.”

 

“Yeah but my skin is so tan and-”

 

“Oh my god, what’s wrong with that? You look fine!”

 

“But you didn’t like me?”

 

“You didn’t even want me to like you!”

 

“Still hurts my ego!”

 

“Who do you even like anyways?” Jihoon laughed, “No one knows yet right?”

 

Suddenly, from the table behind them, glass was clattering on the table. Jihoon and Mingyu assumed it was some sort of accident, so they went back to where they left off. Mingyu took to quick glances to his side and leaned in real close.

 

“You seem like a trustworthy guy, so I’ll tell you…” He urged Jihoon to come closer too, “It’s… Wonwoo.”

 

“Good choice.” Jihoon nodded, “He seems like the normal one in this group.”

 

“He’s not.” Mingyu frowned, “We’re all crazy.”

 

“Well shit.” The table from behind them made even more noise this time. Again, they brushed it off as nothing.

 

“Do you like someone Jihoon?” Mingyu innocently asked.

 

Jihoon gulped, “No…? I mean, maybe. Probably? I wish I didn’t but he’s just too…” Soonyoung appeared in Jihoon’s head for a second, “charming?”

 

“Who?”

 

Jihoon was distracted by the blaring sounds of clinks and clatters from the table beside him. He covered his ears but planned to reply. It was on the tip of his tongue, Soonyoung’s name was climbing his way out.

 

“It’s So-”

 

The name called out was unfinished. He realized by then that it could have put Soonyoung in great danger if he did say it. The picture of Soonyoung in his head turned morbid and bleak. The smile from before faded. He only stopped imagining because Wonwoo rushed out from the loud table with Seungcheol and Vernon attempting to hold him down.

 

“You like me? Do you really like _me_ Mingyu?!” He huffed, still struggling to get out of the other two’s strong pull.

 

At that moment, the rest started to reveal their spots as well. The table in front of them and the table beside them were both occupied by the whole group. Wonwoo still fought the two’s tight grasps and all in all caused a huge scene in the restaurant. Small exchanges from couples and families were quietly discussed and the waiters and waitresses all came over to see the commotion. Why does something always happen whenever he goes outside…?

 

“You guys were here…? All along…?” Mingyu peered down to his plate, avoiding eye contact with everyone, “That’s uh, concerning…”

 

Wonwoo finally broke free from Seungcheol and Vernon. The force made himself fly out and come tumbling towards the table, where Soonyoung just happened to be. Wonwoo fumbled out and swung Soonyoung aback to the corner of the table. The sound made was dense but even with their situation everybody could hear the thump it made when the back of Soonyoung’s head clashed with it. Soonyoung crouched down with his hands on his head but not even a moment later, a glass cup rolled along the table and dropped down right above Soonyoung.

 

Jihoon watched as it tumbled down in slow motion, almost making impact, almost shattering on Soonyoung’s skull and Jihoon’s shaking hands reached out, but they were too far away. Chan then swiped the glass with ease with just as it was about to make contact. Without realizing it, he saved Soonyoung from multiple glass shards. Jihoon was left feeling dazed. He should have left before he caused all of this mess.

 

He couldn’t move on. It was way too close of a call. Jihoon felt like he couldn’t breathe as his tight heart pumped fast with missing beats in between and his vision started to blur and become unfocused. His legs began to crawl with numbness. It wasn’t just a small nose bleed anymore. Soonyoung could be seriously hurt now and Jihoon could not let that happen.

 

But he couldn’t bring himself to go. His feet were frozen in their place like he was being glued down. He had to distance himself. He had to go. He had to leave. Why couldn’t he break himself out of it? Why did it have to be so hard to disappear?

 

“I think your luck just got worse Soonyoung…” Chan said as he placed he glass cup back to its original position.

 

“Is it?” Soonyoung rubbed his head to ease the pain, “Well thanks for telling me.” He smiled wide and in the corner of Jihoon’s eyes, he could see Chan’s cheeks flush as he grinned back.

 

It was obvious. Chan had feelings for Soonyoung and he wasn’t trying too hard to hide them either. He was the better fit. He was someone to wouldn’t potentially kill him. Though Jihoon knew that, he couldn’t help but feel jealous.

 

Soonyoung was staring at Jihoon for a long time, wondering why he wasn't moving, “Hey are you alright?” He asked, while getting up and reached out to shake Jihoon’s arm.

 

Jihoon flinched at the sudden touch. It perfectly snapped him out of it. He was scared to approach Soonyoung at this point. Jihoon could sense his own eyes shaking when Soonyoung pulled away his hand. He shouldn’t be here.

 

“I uh, got to go…” He mumbled and sprinted away while the others watched in question.

 

Wonwoo moved on, “So… you like me Mingyu?”

 

“Maybe someone should go after Jihoon considering that he ran away for some weird reason and not ignore that to go move your love life?!” Seungcheol sighed, “Like I get it Wonwoo, I really do but you couldn’t wait until after all of this shit?!”

 

“We’re going to lose him if we just stay here y’know…” Seungkwan muttered, “And don’t look at me. I’m not going, y’alls know I’m out of shape and I’m not planning on changing that fact.”

 

“We’re not going to start discussing who should and should not go! Someone just hurry up!” Joshua pointed to the door.

 

“I’ll go. I think I did something wrong… maybe he isn’t the touchy type.” Soonyoung jogged over to the door, “I’ll call you if I find him.”

 

He turned and ran straight into the door since he didn’t read the sign that said ‘pull’ and instead pushed. After a moment of silence, he waved everyone off and left.

 

“At least one out of the twelve fucking people here left for him.” Minghao sat down and laid back with his legs sprawled out.

 

“I was going to go but Soonyoung said he would so y’know I let it be.” Dokyeom shrugged, “I don’t really think Jihoon would like me chasing after him.”

 

“True.” Vernon nodded.

 

Suddenly a waiter walked up to them all, eyes down as if they were afraid to speak, “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you guy’s to leave… You’re all banned from this establishment…”

 

“This was expected.” Junhui replied and looked at the other’s to see them all agreeing.

  


_______________________________

  


Once Jihoon booked it out of the restaurant, he had little stamina or desire to keep up at that pace. He started walking down the street, surrounded by crowds of people with different shapes and sizes. He blended in just fine, which was what he wanted, but being pushed around constantly wasn’t the ideal situation he wanted so once he found an exit point he made a sharp turn and ended up in a secluded alleyway where the busy people on the street were too busy with their day to make even a small glance into there. Judging by the sun, Jihoon only had an hour or so until the sun would set. He would turn into a cat pretty damn soon again.

 

He needed space, to think and to make a plan. Where should he go? What should he do? He was back on the streets and the thought of leaving a nice warm house wasn’t too pleasing. Jihoon slumped down, leaning against the graffitied wall of art and avoiding the scraps of garbage on the ground.

 

He thought that with the amount of people blocking the street, if someone wanted to find him, it would be impossible. Key word is thought. Not even five minutes after, Soonyoung rushed in with sweat rolling down his face. Jihoon quickly peered down at his own shoes. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Soonyoung in the eyes.

 

“Jihoon! Why’d you run away?” He panted, “Did I do something wrong?”

 

No. He didn’t do anything wrong. He’s just too damn cute for his own good.

 

“I… don’t know.”

 

“What does that mean?! You don’t know? Come on, I know that you know that you can tell me what you know so that I know what you know.”

 

“Please stop.”

 

“I know, but first you have to tell me that you know that-”

 

“Okay!” He shouted, Stop saying ‘know’ I get it!”

 

Soonyoung laid back with Jihoon as well. He hoped that Jihoon wanted to stay for a little bit so that he could cool off. He searched all over for him and he was glad that he actually found him considering how busy it was.

 

He poked Jihoon’s side softly, “Are you going to tell me?”

 

 _That I love you?_ Jihoon imagined a scenario where he could, but it was broken down by the harsh reality, “Yeah. I guess I just got overwhelmed.” he carefully lied but also knowing that it wasn’t far from the truth.

 

Soonyoung hummed in response while unconsciously leaning in closer to Jihoon, making the shorter flustered on the inside, “Are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“Really? To me it sounds like you have pent up thoughts… y’know, you we’re homeless for a while…”

 

“It was only for a bit.”

 

“How did you even survive?!”

 

“Well, being a cat was nice because some people gave me food because I was apparently a stray and all. Actually, Wonwoo gave me chicken on multiple occasions.”

 

“Is that how he caught you?”

 

“... Yes.” Jihoon cleared his throat, “but really I would just sneak in through some kid’s bedroom and steal his snack stash at night but he would always forgive me after.”

 

“I guess Jun saved you a bit?”

 

“You can put it that way.” Jihoon let a breath out, “Though, the curse was why I got kicked out in the first place.”

 

It wasn’t the main cause. Jihoon knew that his mom kicked him out because the misfortune grew on her. He didn’t know how to forgive that. The cat curse just set the effect in motion, but Jihoon guessed her planned worked.

 

“Wow I guess I’ll have to have a nice chat with Junhui…” Soonyoung cracked his knuckles.

 

“Don’t be stupid. People have their days.”

 

“But I just want an excuse to fight him…”

 

“I bet Minghao would beat your fine ass, you know, them being good friend’s and all...” Jihoon chuckled, “I heard he can use the nunchucks.”

 

“Fine ass?”

 

“Didn’t say that.” Jihoon blurted, “Well, uh, anyways, I didn’t plan on telling you my whole backstory but that’s alright.”

 

The two listened to the blanket of silence that fell between them. The herds of people scattered about earlier had died down and Jihoon could see the sky turn darker and darker. Finally, Jihoon mustered up some courage to look at Soonyoung’s face. He was staring into Jihoon’s eyes. How long was he watching him for?

 

“I don’t usually like it when it quiet…” Soonyoung spoke softly, “But I guess it’s alright if it’s you.”

 

“Thanks…?”

 

Jihoon didn’t know how to respond to it. His head was already frazzled and jumbly. He couldn’t pay attention very well, he was lost, so very lost even if he didn’t show it.

 

“Y’know, I’m actually glad you’re my roommate. I really like you.”

 

Soonyoung smiled with a genuine brightness. That killer smile. It lit up Jihoon’s heart with a swift spark. He couldn’t help but to gaze at Soonyoung’s lips, wondering how it would feel on his own. As if mesmerized by it, Jihoon grabbed the back of Soonyoung’s neck, drawing them closer together until Jihoon could feel Soonyoung’s light breaths.

 

Time stopped. Or at least that was what it felt like. The clouds in the darkening sky seemed to hold their movements and the noise of the cars on the road dulled down into his own sweet melody of peace. He didn’t think, he didn’t have a care in the world. He was only focused on the guy in front of him. God damn Kwon Soonyoung.

 

Jihoon shifted, closing in the distance within their lips. Just a peck, Jihoon thought, that would be okay. He felt like he was floating in the warm, fresh, mellow air. The moment came close. With just a slight push their mouths would be touching and Jihoon was alright with that. He wanted to experience it.

 

But then his gut sensation came. He noticed how the sky was not bright at all. He felt as if tiny needles pierced his chest and numbed his body, as he saw himself glow. He was all too familiar with this. He flew back, away from Soonyoung and he felt himself getting squeezed into something smaller. A blink later, he was a small, black, cat, yet again.

 

“Uh, Jihoon, w-what were we doing just now? I mean- I know, but…” Soonyoung crouched down to see Jihoon’s body language, but had no reply.

 

Jihoon wanted to go dig himself a hole and never climb out. He was actually going to kiss Soonyoung, without consent first of all, and second, Soonyoung didn’t even like him. He probably meant 'like' as a friend. How much bad luck would pile up on Soonyoung if he did kiss him though? Jihoon didn’t want to think about that. Not at all.

 

Then, a loud crack was heard from above. They both looked up to the tall buildings that surrounded them, only to see bits of glass falling towards them. A window broke, and all of those shattered shards were crashing down on them. Jihoon leaped over to Soonyoung, trying to get him to move out of the way, but he was too small, too weak to do anything. Instead, Soonyoung grabbed hold of Jihoon and held him tight near his chest.

 

Soonyoung bent down, covering Jihoon from the tumbling fragments. Jihoon could only listen to the crashes of those bits bursting on the cement, unable to tell if Soonyoung was honestly safe or not. Thankfully, once it was over, Soonyoung shot back up with a relieved expression flooding his face. Soonyoung seemed unscathed.

 

“Nothing hit me!” He gave a thumbs up, unfazed, “It was a close miss!”

 

Soonyoung wasn’t hurt, but Jihoon was on the inside. Now he knew what would happen if he did kiss him. Death. That’s what would happen to Soonyoung and he didn’t have a doubt in his mind that it would be anything but death. If he liked him even more, the glass could have hit. It could have stabbed into his back or maybe worse.

 

He couldn’t let his feeling grow anymore. Jihoon would not let the curse win, no matter how much Soonyoung’s beautiful face could beg. Jihoon didn’t look back. He ran away once again, this time he made sure not to stop and not to be found. He wouldn’t allow it anymore.

 

“Wait! Why did you-” Soonyoung’s voice faded as he realized Jihoon wasn’t going to listen.

 

He left without a wave or goodbye and Soonyoung just stood there, not worried about the falling glass, but about Jihoon. How Jihoon’s hair blew in the slight wind, how Jihoon’s face looked up close… He could only brush over his lips as he watched Jihoon rush farther and farther away from his sight. Soonyoung’s heart beat like there was no tomorrow.

 

Now, he couldn’t get Jihoon out of his head. He wondered what he would have done if their lips made contact.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOO SEVENTEEN COMEBACK IS SOON AHHH
> 
> Also, Astro's comeback was good uwuwu
> 
> Anyways, took me a little while longer to get this chapter up, sorry. I hope you still like it though!


	4. Drink Them Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soonyoung is bummed out about Jihoon running away... but at least he has karaoke?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this is a week late because I was so busyyy... It's also shorter because I still don't have much time to write, but I hope it's still alright.
> 
> Also, I have no idea what real parties are like cause I'm a good child, but this is my best guess of what goes down.

Even before Soonyoung could get into his house he could hear the hollers and cheers from outside the front door. From the sounds of Seungkwan’s echo-y voice, he could tell that they brought out the karaoke machine. Soonyoung’s hands hovered over the door knob. He felt disheartened, even if his friends were having fun. He should have chased after Jihoon, but all he did was watch him run away.

 

Jihoon’s face under the fading sunlight really hit him hard. He couldn’t stop looking at Jihoon. Especially his lil’ dimples that he finally started to notice when Jihoon finally opened up to him. Something about him made Soonyoung want to squish him, like a grandma with her grandchildren. He just wanted to give Jihoon the biggest kiss- wait, that was weird. Maybe not.

 

Thankfully, to get Jihoon out of his head, karaoke was the answer to his problem. Shaking away the thought of Jihoon’s lips, Soonyoung finally slammed open the door to see Seungkwan and Chan battling it out in a rap battle. He made it at the end of Chan’s rap and he was now provoking Seungkwan with ease. It seemed to work since Seungkwan grabbed Chan’s shirt and they all had to hold him back while the rest, who were laughing their asses off, had to pull him away.

 

“Who said you could start this shit without me?!” Soonyoung yelled out, “The party doesn’t start ‘til I’m here!”

 

“Soonyoung, you’re late! Make it up for us!” Seungcheol called back and then continued to boo him jokingly.

 

“Alright Seungcheol… You want a show? I’ll give you a show!” Soonyoung snatched away Seungkwan’s mic and proceeded to stand on the table in the middle of the room, “Everyone, SCREAM!”

 

Soonyoung held his two arms out dramatically as he basked in the glory of his friend’s cries. He finally realized that everyone seemed to be at least a bit drunk since all of their faces were pink. Asian glow y’know? The only one who wasn’t red was Vernon, but considering that everyone was so rowdy, he was probably at least a bit tipsy. 

 

Junhui was holding onto Minghao tight and Minghao seemed bothered, but let it happen anyways. Junhui loved to cling when he was drunk. Hell, even Chan had something to drink, which was a surprise. Jeonghan would never let Chan drink unless on a special occasion. Unless, it  _ was _ a special occasion. 

 

“One question!” Everyone protested but he went on with it anyways, “Why are we partying?” he asked.

 

Mingyu shot his hand up, “I’ll show you!” He scurried over to Wonwoo and leaped on top of him.

 

Wonwoo fell back onto the couch and Mingyu started to peck at his neck without a care in the world. People were cheering them on, but Chan, Vernon and Seungkwan seemed to be the only one to say something along the lines of, ‘get a room!’ and Soonyoung would too if Wonwoo hadn’t stopped Mingyu from going too far. Apparently he was aware enough to realize the consequences of it after. He applauded Wonwoo’s skill because if it was him he would have let it go on. Then his mind went back to Jihoon’s lips and how close they were to his an hour ago.

 

Everyone drew their attention away from the scene quick when Jeonghan shouted, “Soonyoung likes someone!”

 

Everybody gave Soonyoung encouraging, incoherent comments, except Chan, who silently kept drinking his can, facing away from the crowd. Soonyoung loved being in the center of attention, but he didn’t enjoy it at that moment. It was weird that everyone was teasing him about his love life. His friends were all drunk, he might as well drink too. He tried to step off the table but they pushed him back up.

 

“C’mon! You can’t leave without doing something!” Dokyeom fussed.

 

“I need to drink first don’t you guys think?” Soonyoung jumped off again, this time they let him.

 

“Oh my god! We need drinks for Soonyoung too!” Junhui stumbled onto Soonyoung and clung to him tight, “Let’s go ‘n get something for you…” he dragged Soonyoung down to the table and poured him a shot.

 

“No!” Minghao whined, “I want  _ you _ to hold me Jun!”

 

“Soonyoung needs to drink first! Hurry up Soonyoung you have to catch up!”

 

Minghao pouted and got teary eyed in the corner, “I want my Junnie... “ he mumbled to himself.

 

Soonyoung turned his attention back to the tiny glass filled with whatever the hell Jun poured in there. Without anymore hesitation he drank it all in one swift gulp, the aftertaste in his mouth lingering for longer than he had hoped. Some part of him wished Jihoon was there. Maybe he would hear his laugh again.

 

“Do another!” Wonwoo laughed while Mingyu kept staring at him with a flushed smile on his face.

 

Joshua this time poured his drink. Soonyoung’s eyes however were now looking at Jeonghan and Seungcheol who were on the couch, in their own world. Seungcheol was huddled up next to Jeonghan, almost like a small child, and the older one simply played with his hair. Once Joshua gave him the drink, Soonyoung’s mind was still spaced out and didn’t even bother looking at the glass. When Soonyoung swallowed all of the alcohol down and almost gagged at the taste.

 

“What did you just give me?” Soonyoung coughed sourly.

 

“Something Jeonghan made. I think he mixed coke with a ton of salt, then put like whatever drinks he could find.” He giggled, showing Soonyoung a bottle of what Soonyoung had just consumed.

 

“That’s fucking disgusting…” He replied.

 

Soonyoung noticed a tall cup of water by his side, and drank as much as he could to get the taste out of his mouth. Fortunately, it worked. Unfortunately, it wasn’t water. It was a glass of vodka and he drained half of the glass on a second flat.

 

Soonyoung groaned, “Who the fuck puts vodka in a glass?” His face scrunched up as he frowned.

 

“See? Someone did fall for it!” Seungkwan pointed, but no one actually cared enough to look.

 

“Sexy dance!” Seokmin shouted and brought Soonyoung to his feet unwillingly.

 

The music cued and Soonyoung could hear the ungodly encouragement everyone was giving him. Even Jeonghan who was on the verge of falling asleep woke himself up just to clap. After a few moves, Soonyoung couldn’t seem to remember what happened after that.

 

___________________________________________

  
  


Soonyoung was laying uncomfortably in his bed. He was sweating from the heat that never seemed to fade away from his veins. His nerves felt like they were on fire while his skin felt like sticky melted candy. His head felt clouded and dazed, he couldn’t think clearly.

 

Suddenly, he was on top of Jihoon who was topless, avoiding eye contact with the other. The blanket entwined both of them together and Soonyoung bent down to kiss his cheek. He didn’t realize it before, but he was now naked as well. Soonyoung let his fingers run down Jihoon’s chest, just barely grazing it with his nails. Jihoon squirmed underneath him while moving in closer to the touch.

 

Soonyoung traced the outline of Jihoon’s jawline and whispered, “You look so cute like this…” his eyes admired how Jihoon reacted to his caress, “But I’d rather do something else!” He grinned happily.

 

Soonyoung bounced down on the pillow beside Jihoon and squeezed Jihoon tight. His body cooled in the embrace. All he wanted to do was to cuddle the shit out of Jihoon and once he did, he couldn’t help but playfully laugh to himself. Jihoon smiled and seemed content with the contact, but he didn’t hug Soonyoung back.

 

All of the sudden he could hear honking cars and a loud screech. The sound was so obnoxious that he bolted up with a grumble and finally awoke on the couch scrunched up against Chan. He shook his head to wake himself up more, trying to recover from that oddly nice dream. Jihoon wasn’t next to him however and it set a small grumpy frown to show on his face. 

 

“Turn it down!” Seungkwan hissed while hitting Seokmin with his fist, “Why are you watching top ten bad drivers anyways?”

 

Dokyeom was holding the remote and was trying to turn it down, but accidentally made the volume louder instead, “It’s interesting!”

 

The bickering made Soonyoung’s head less foggy. Did he really dream about Jihoon? Soonyoung peered down at his fingers and he could almost feel the electricity of their skin making contact. He was glad that dream him decided to have a cuddle session instead of… the other thing.

 

“I’m getting a headache…” Seungkwan rubbed his temples, “Just, don’t wake the others cause they probably drank a lot considering…” He examined the room to find the mess they had made.

 

Seungkwan then noticed Soonyoung wide awake in Chan’s arms. He made a straight face, hoping that Soonyoung wouldn’t be pissed off about being woken up by the multiple car honks. 

 

“Oh, good morning guys.” Chan sleepily yawned. Apparently he was awake now too.

 

Seungkwan’s eyebrow rose, “I’m not going to deal with your shit right now Chan.” and then he left into the other rooms.

 

“The fuck did I do?” He asked.

 

“You insulted him in the rap battle you guys did yesterday.” Dokyeom replied, all while a car crashed into another on the television screen.

 

Seungcheol groaned and sat up from the floor, “Chan… He’s not going to let that go for a while, even if you guys were drunk, let’s be honest here.”

 

“You should just be glad you didn’t do a rap battle with Jeonghan. Imagine how petty he would be to you.” Chan commented.

 

“Ah! My sweet child Chan! You have awoken!” Soonyoung spoke in an excited, high-pitched voice.

 

Soonyoung ruffled Chan’s hair and poked his cheeks roughly. Chan, being the push-over he was, allowed him to continue. Chan brought Soonyoung closer to his discreetly by making more room on the couch for him.

 

“Gross. You’re sweaty.” Chan rolled his eyes.

 

“So you like someone Soonyoung?” Seokmin laughed, “Jeonghan said that right? When you were on the table?”

 

“God, you guys remember that?” Soonyoung shrugged, “I uh, I don’t think I like him.”

 

Seungcheol choked, “So it’s a him?!”

 

“Fuck!” He scrambled away from everyone and pointed at all of their faces, “You tell nobody!”

 

“Let’s be honest here Soonyoung! You know that I’m horrible at keeping secrets!” Dokyeom exclaimed, “And Seungcheol is going to tell Shua or Jeonghan at some point.”

 

“I said to tell no one!” His voice cracked as he ran off into his room where Seungkwan, Vernon, Jun, Minghao and Jeonghan were all on his bed. 

 

His two Chinese friends were attached to each other like last night and slept with the weight of Seungkwan, who was on his phone, lying on top of them. Vernon got the better end and although he was nearly falling off of the mattress, Seungkwan’s legs were the only thing laid above him. Jeonghan got one side of the bed all to himself as he quietly snored away. There was no room for him at all and all Seungkwan did was give him a snicker. He would have to go into Wonwoo’s room.

 

But it wasn’t any better. Mingyu and Wonwoo were both naked and sprawled out on their bed. The place smelled like sweat and he had a good idea of what had happened in there. He shut the door as soon as he entered. Now he knew why the others were in his room. 

 

Frustrated, Soonyoung went back into the living room and went back to his original spot. He laid in front of Chan while hugging on of the pillows on the sofa. His lips stuck out as he pouted. He was excited for his bed.

 

“Came back already?” Seungcheol chuckled while putting a blanket on a sleeping Joshua, who was curled up on the carpet.

 

“My room was raided.” He mumbled.

 

“By the way,” Seungcheol began to watch the cars on the screen as well, “Where is Jihoon? Didn’t you go after him?”

 

“Ah, well, the thing is, I did, but uh, he got away.” Soonyoung stammered and everyone groaned.

 

Chan sighed, “We should’ve sent Jeonghan, he has some crazy persuasion skills.”

 

Dokyeom was now suddenly interested, “He’s slow! He would never run for Jihoon!”

 

“When everyone wakes up, we will try to find him… there isn’t many places where he could go.” Seungcheol laid back down with Joshua, “We just need to make sure he is safe out there.”

 

“Yeah! I remember he complimented my singing voice when I came over before!” Seokmin suddenly put his hands over his mouth, “But don’t tell Seungkwan that, he would be jealous.”

 

“Too late.” Seungkwan scoffed, “I ain’t finding Jihoon. He can go to hell, I’m clearly the better singer.”

 

“You are!” Dokyeom pleaded as he went off to chase Seungkwan back.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You thought Soonyoung would dream about Jihoon like that?? Lol no my boi is too pure
> 
>  
> 
> For now.


	5. Out of All People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search party for Jihoon is all over the place, but Chan doesn't want to be a part of it.

 

It took hours for everyone to finally get up. When Jeonghan got the news he stomped his way over and gave Soonyoung a strong glare. Jeonghan also took notice to Soonyoung’s changed heart.

 

“After all of the trouble I went to get Jihoon… you just  _ had  _ to make him run away!” Jeonghan clicked his tongue and hit Soonyoung’s chest, “And you like someone but I don’t even know who the hell it is!”

 

“It’s a he.” Seungcheol chimed in.

 

“I said not to tell!” Soonyoung whined.

 

Joshua clapped in that simple elementary school pattern and everyone else instantly repeated it after, “Alright guys shut your mouths. Go find yourself a group up to three.”

 

“Jeonghan!” Seokmin screamed and ran into Jeonghan’s arms.

 

“Over dramatic much?” Wonwoo rolled his eyes, “Mingyu get your ass over here and make sure not to trip on anything.”

 

“No promises on that one…” Mingyu replied.

 

“Me too!” Soonyoung cheerfully jumped to Wonwoo’s side, “I’ll be third wheel, I don’t really care.”

 

Seungkwan glared at Vernon, who was not paying attention and was zoned-out with his headphones on, “God damn I have to get him myself huh…” Seungkwan mumbled.

 

He tapped Hansol on the shoulder, “Oh sorry, groups, yeah… Uh, Seungkwan, you want to be in my group?” he gave a pitiful smile but Seungkwan agreed anyways.

 

“I guess that leaves me, Joshua and Chan.” Seungcheol looked at his partners for any complaints.

 

Chan shook his head, “Sorry, I’m staying out of this. I have better things to do anyways, eleven people is sure to be enough.”

 

“But Chan! Jihoon is out there, probably crying, very sad, alone, afraid…” Soonyoung frowned and sniffled for a theatrical effect.

 

“You’re overreacting. Jihoon seems like a strong person and he already has experience, I’m sure he is fine.”

 

“Chan, you’re not getting out of this without a good reason.” Jeonghan crossed his arms waiting for an answer.

 

“Okay fine… I drank too much and I feel sick… I thought you guys would get the hint when I puked in the morning but I see how dense you guys are.”

 

“This is why we don’t let Chan drink!” Joshua exclaimed, “He gets sick!”

 

“It was still fun. It’s better than all of your ‘drink water’ crap.”

 

Seungcheol sighed, “Okay before you guys start another argument, I will allow Chan to be excluded from this family gathering.”

 

“Since when was this a family gathering?” Seungkwan questioned.

 

“Since now.” Seungcheol answered and headed out the door, “Now let’s go find our cat.”

 

“Jihoon is a person though.” Dokyeom answered.

 

“We’re finding our beloved lost kitten!” Seungcheol insisted and marched out the door with Joshua’s hand in his.

 

“Our sweet Woozi!” Soonyoung called out, “We’re coming for you!”

  
  


__________________________

  
  
  


With that, and some groans of annoyance, everyone left the house. Once Chan departed with the others, he let out the biggest breath, and could feel his heart race. His white lie went unnoticed by Joshua. A long time ago, Chan realized that Joshua’s ability couldn’t see white lies as easily, or he couldn’t detect them at all. It’s always a fifty-fifty chance that Joshua notices the lie though and he never told anyone else about it.

 

Thankfully, he didn’t have to go find Jihoon, and that was all that mattered to Chan. Ever since Jihoon came along, Soonyoung’s luck seemed to be getting worse and worse. It wasn’t that he hated Jihoon either, it was just that Chan knew Jihoon was hiding something. He didn’t know if the others realized it as well, but he wasn’t too keen on letting some stranger suddenly become best buddies so soon. The way Jihoon looks at Soonyoung too, made Chan’s fingers twitch with frustration.

 

Chan had theorized that Jihoon had a big fat crush on Soonyoung as well. Everyone but Jeonghan was dense in their group. There was no denying it. It was a complete miracle that Mingyu and Wonwoo didn’t notice the other’s feelings for years. Some goes for some of his others friends as well. 

 

Seungkwan had been trying for years to get into Vernon’s pants, but alas, Vernon wasn’t and still isn’t too bright at that kind of stuff. Soonyoung was no exception, and Chan was making it almost as clear as glass about his feelings too. Prolonged looks, contant hugs and cuddles, letting Soonyoung annoy and bother him, not hiding the blush that rises up to his face whenever Soonyoung does something daring… the list can go on forever. 

 

Hell, now he knows Soonyoung likes someone too and the only person who could have an idea is Jeonghan, who said he didn’t know either! But, there is a chance Jeonghan was tricking everyone too. You never really know. Chan couldn’t help but laugh. How could he fall in love with such a thick-headed loser?

 

Chan really hoped nobody would find Jihoon. It wasn’t like Jihoon wanted to be found anyways if he was still hiding at this point. Yet, Chan had a feeling that something happened when Soonyoung found Jihoon. He didn’t want to admit, but Soonyoung’s heart could have been taken by the other already. Chan clenched his fists harder.

 

He had the biggest urge to punch a wall and he knew that it wouldn’t go away until he did something about it. Chan made his way to the local gym. Seungcheol and Mingyu had somehow convinced Chan to workout with them on thursdays, but the pass was still useful for days like these. So once Chan got there, he was pumped to let some anger out in the safest way possible.

 

That’s until he walked past the weights. In the corner of his eyes, Chan saw a familiar figure. A very familiar tiny ass person. Out of all people he could have seen today, Lee Jihoon sat on a bench drinking a bottle of water, and out of all people who could have found him, Chan just had to be the guy. Jihoon didn’t notice Chan at first, but once he saw that some stranger was staring at him for a long time he couldn’t help but look up to see who it was.

 

Once he did though, Jihoon choked on his water and almost spat it all out in shock, “Shit!” He coughed out.

 

Jihoon by the second tried to bolt out of there, but Chan grabbed his hand last second on impulse, “Woah, you don’t need to run away.”

 

“I bet Jeonghan is outside right now, don’t you dare lie to me!” Jihoon pulled his hand away, “I’m not coming back.”

 

“Good!” Chan replied, “Don’t come back!”

 

“Fine!” Jihoon nodded, but then he really couldn’t believe it would be that easy, “Wait, really? That’s it?” he furrowed his eyebrows.

 

“Yeah, don’t come back. I don’t want you there.” He bluntly stated.

 

“Oh, so it’s only you?” Jihoon asked, “What about the others?”

 

“I’ll be honest, they are all looking for you. Everyone except me, so consider yourself lucky I guess.”

 

“Lucky huh…” Jihoon’s eyes drifted away, “Since luck isn’t on Soonyoung’s side, he won’t find me then.”

 

“I mean, Soonyoung has been very unlucky ever since-”  Chan spoke softer, “Ever since you turned up…”

 

“Well-” Jihoon’s voice died down as he tried to think of something to say.

 

“Wait- so you actually… did do something to him?” Chan inspected Jihoon’s face closer and he in fact did look distressed.

 

“No, I didn’t.”

 

“Why did you run then?” Chan shouted.

 

Now everyone in the gym was looking at them. Jihoon grumbled and dragged Chan out to the back of the gym where not many people were at. He crossed his arms and sighed.

 

“I guess, it’s because…” He took a breath in, “I like- uh, I love…? No, no, no, I just can’t be around him anymore… yeah, that’s it.”

 

“Just say you like him for fucks sake!”

 

“I can’t!” Jihoon yelled back. 

 

“The fuck do you mean you can’t!” Chan argued further, “Y’know what? If you can’t even say that you love him, you don’t deserve him! God, why can’t I be the one he has his eyes on…”

 

“Who the hell are you to decide what  _ he _ deserves?”

 

“Well I’m sure it’s not you!”

 

“Seriously? Just because you like him doesn’t mean you have to fucking hate on me!” Jihoon chuckled humorlessly, “This is too fucking funny.”

 

“You won’t be around anyways. You didn’t want to come back remember?”

 

“Change of plans then.” Jihoon gave Chan the middle finger, “I’m going back.”

 

“Wait what? Why? You can’t be serious!”

 

“You gave me inspiration.” Jihoon gave a smug expression and left Chan standing there.

 

Chan, after minutes of being stunned, took out his phone and called Jeonghan, “I found Jihoon. He’s at the gym.”

 

Seokmin’s scream could be heard from miles away, even though the phone.

  
  


____________________________

 

As soon as Jihoon turned away from Chan, his whole demeanor shifted. He was now filled with a gut-twisting, head-pounding sensation that was gradually killing him from the inside. Why did he say that? If he went back Soonyoung would die, all because of him, and then everyone would hate him, and they would probably want to kill him too, and then Chan would be proven right all along. He probably isn’t what Soonyoung deserves, and he’s sure as hell didn’t deserve Soonyoung either.

 

He should probably just run away again, disregard what he just said. He should have retracted his statement before it was too late. Now, he’s already too far from Chan to make coming back feel even more dumb. He made his mind to just run away again without telling Chan. Then, a net fell upon his head.

 

It was one of those butterfly nets, probably bought from the dollar store, but somehow his whole head fit and he was now somewhat blinded, “Get him!” a voice shrieked from behind.

 

Before he could take a step, he was quickly held in place by two strong arms and then mobbed by multiple others, “What the fuck?” Jihoon sad as he thrashed around.

 

Within a second Jihoon had punched multiple people in the face, attempted to kick someone’s knee caps and probably poked two people in their eyes. He was outnumbered however, and was pinned down quickly. He laid there, back up from the ground. The net came off and he was greeted with a cute face, that was unfortunately scratched and scuffed up with a bit of dirt near his nose and forehead. Soonyoung was there, centimeters away with a kid-like frown on his face.

 

“Why’d you go?” He asked, while someone decided it was a good idea to sit on Jihoon instead of holding him down.

 

“Real question is how you guys found me so fast…”

 

“Chan told us you were here!” Dokyeom answered.

 

“But it would still take a few minutes for you guys to get here!”

 

“Don’t underestimate us.” Minghao coldly leaned against a wall, “We are quite familiar with people running away from us.”

 

“What he means is that we chase people a lot.” Junhui unhelpfully added.

 

“Let’s go back Jihoon!” Soonyoung ruffled Jihoon’s hair and since Jihoon’s hands were also being sat on, couldn’t even do anything to stop him.

 

His eyes still laid on Soonyoung’s face, “Uh, what happened to your face Soonyoung?” 

 

“You legit just attacked all of us, mostly him somehow, you got him in the eye and punched his thigh.” Seungkwan then pointed at his legs, “And you almost broke my knees man! Your punches hurt!”

 

The pit in Jihoon’s stomach sank, but tried his best to reply normally, “You guys should have told me it was you guys instead of sneaking up on me like that...” The more he looked at Soonyoung, the more guilty he felt.

 

Joshua held the butterfly net in his hands, “Next time don’t run away then.”

 

“So are you goin’ to come back?” Vernon yawned.

 

Jihoon took a while to nod, but in the end he still agreed to go back with them all. The person on his back finally sat up as well. They walked down the block and were about to cross the street into Minghao’s and Jeonghan’s cars but a voice screamed out to them. 

 

“You’re actually serious Jihoon?” Chan ran across to them, “You came back because of what? Spite?”

 

“Sure, you could say that.” Jihoon darkly looked away, “Just leave me alone now alright?”

 

“Don’t you dare tell me what to fucking do! Just get away from-” before he could finish his sentence Jeonghan grabbed his shoulder and the boy shuddered from the sudden contact.

 

“I thought I told you not to swear.” Jeonghan gave a sweet, yet unsettling sigh, “I know you may not like Jihoon, but give him a chance, he’s only been with us for a week.”

 

Chan gulped, “...You’re wrong about him.”

 

Jeonghan’s eyes went wide, “I’m what?”

 

“You’re wrong about him! He’s- He’s going to-”

 

The group backed up as Jeonghan’s laugh cut Chan off, “I can’t be wrong.”

 

“Well you are and-” Jeonghan’s face turned foul, leaving Chan frozen in place before he could say more.

 

Mingyu finally stepped in and broke it up, “Okay, okay, stop! Jeonghan, no one can be right all the time and that’s a fact! Even for you!” then he faced Chan, “But you should know better than to swear, talk back to Jeonghan and being rude in general.”

 

“This is why Mingyu is my favorite son.” Seungcheol smiled.

 

“Really?” Mingyu beamed to his fullest and Seungcheol gave a thumbs up which made the other jump up and down happily, “Uh, anyways, I think you and Jihoon should work out your differences!”

 

“I swear to god if you come up with the date idea again…” Seungkwan murmured.

 

“N-No, I wasn’t I was just going to suggest that they uh… talk it out…?”

 

“It’s settled then!” Joshua announced, “You two, work out your differences.”

 

Chan scowled and didn’t say anything as he walked past them to get into the car. Jihoon knew Chan was right but he didn’t want to imagine Chan and Soonyoung together, even if the other was a better fit. The feeling just made his legs go numb. Maybe, he just wanted to hold onto the thought of Soonyoung for a little longer.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's like two days late but hey, it's better than nothing! 
> 
> Sorry I've been kind of busy these days. Mid terms are coming up and I also had some other problems too. I'll try to get the next chapter in on time!
> 
> (I like post every week so the next chapter will probably be Monday too)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment so I feel appreciated UWU <3


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